Ms. Wu Xiaohong Held in Qiqihar City Detention Centre

Name: Wu Xiaohong
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 26th, 2010
Most recent place of detention: First Detention Centre in Qiqihar City
City: Qiqihar
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Detention, home ransacked, extortion, interrogation, beatings.

Ms. Wu Xiaohong, a Falun Gong practitioner from Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province, is still being held in the First Detention Centre. She was arrested on January 26th, 2010, and has been tortured. As a result, she is very weak and has vaginal bleeding. However, the police have lied, saying it is only her menstrual period, and have refused to take her for medical treatment.

When Ms. Wu was arrested she had several thousand yuan¹ in cash on her. Her family was only given 20 yuan back. The police spent the rest of her money on themselves. Her family is poor. Her husband has been unemployed for many years due to his lack of skills. Her mother-in-law is over 70 years old, and her health is not good. When she heard the bad news about her daughter-in-law's health, she was unable to get out of bed. Ms. Wu's child is only eight.

Ms. Wu began to practise Falun Gong in 2001, and she benefited tremendously. At 1 p.m. on January 26th 2010, she was forcefully arrested at her private business booth in Huibo Plaza. Zhang Shoulun, Han Dai, and three other officers from Wenhua Road Police Station of the Jianhua Police Department, Qiqihar City Police Bureau, made the arrest. At 3 p.m. the police searched her home in the residential area of Paper Plant. Ms. Wu's relative refused to open the door for them, but they forced their way into the house and ransacked her home. They took her computer, printer, and discs.

In the evening, the same police officers interrogated Ms Wu under duress. Because she shouted, "Falun Gong is good!" they relentlessly beat her until she passed out. In the middle of that night, the police took her to the emergency room of the Second Hospital in Qiqihar City for emergency treatment. When she regained consciousness, she was taken back to the police station for further interrogation. On the morning of January 27th, she lost consciousness for the second time. The police were afraid that their treatment of Ms Wu might be exposed to the public, so they called an ambulance for her. From then on, they didn't dare to torture her anymore.

Ms. Wu's husband is 50 years old. He was unemployed, but he found a temporary job far away from his hometown. When he heard the bad news about his wife, he came home immediately. On the afternoon of January 28th, he went to Wenhua Road Police Station to find his wife. By that time, Ms. Wu had been detained for almost 50 hours. He demanded to see his wife immediately, but he was not allowed to and was driven out of the police station.

Ms. Wu's husband waited at the front gate of the police station, hoping to have a chance to see his wife. At 5:00 p.m., he and other relatives witnessed Ms Wu being dragged out of the police station by five officers, then thrown into a police wagon. She was taken to the First Detention Centre in Qiqihar City.

Ms Wu Xiaohong has endured abusive insults and vicious beatings by those in charge at the detention centre. Since January 29th, officers from Wenhua Road Police Station have interrogated her regularly. However, she has maintained her lawful right to live by the principles of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance and will never give up her firm belief in Falun Gong.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.