Ms. Xu Peiyan from Heilongjiang Province Jailed for Five Years for Talking to People about Falun Gong

Name: Xu Peiyan
Gender: Female
Age: 46
Address: Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Retail Saleswoman
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 22nd, 2004
Most recent place of detention: Harbin Women's Jail
City: Harbin
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Detention, interrogation, home ransacked, beatings, extortion, sleep deprivation, brainwashing, fired from workplace.

Ms. Xu Peiyan once had serious Hepatitis B, which was very painful. In March 2003, Ms. Xu began to practise Falun Gong. Soon, this stubborn illness was completely cured without any treatment. Since then, she has been telling her friends and family about the beauty of Falun Gong.

On March 22nd, 2004, Ms. Xu was reported for telling others about her experience of practising Falun Gong. She was arrested by several officers from Mishan City Police Station. She was interrogated for two days and then taken to Mishan Detention Centre.

Two days later, officers from the political security section of Mishan City Police Station as well as from the Second Police Station, a total of more than 20 officers, went to Ms. Xu's home. No one was home at the time, and the police pried the door open and took away many valuables. They ransacked the home, leaving clothes out everywhere on the floor. Several officers stayed in her home for several more days, in an attempt to arrest more Falun Gong practitioners.

During that time Ms. Xu was in Mishan Detention Centre, where she was cursed and beaten by the police. Meng Qingqi, the section leader of the political security section of Mishan City Police Station, told Ms. Xu's brother that they would sentence her. Ms. Xu's brother had to take him out to eat twice and give him money. He was hoping that Meng would say something nice about Ms. Xu at her trial.

The detention centre staff lied to Ms. Xu's family, saying that everyone had to pay 500 yuan¹ to buy bed sheets and other items. After getting the money, Ms. Xu was sentenced to five years in prison. On September 22nd, 2004, the police took her to Harbin Women's Jail.

In the jail, Ms. Xu was tortured in different ways. Often they did not let her sleep, and beatings occurred almost every day. They wanted to force her to give up her faith.

In 2005, the police again tried to force her to "transform" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong]. They put her in a small clothing storage room, and three people took turns "talking" with her. If she refused to answer, they would brutally beat her. In the dark storage room, she was tortured brutally. Her legs were so badly injured that she could not stand up. She had wounds everywhere, and she could neither sit nor lie down.

During the time Ms. Xu was in jail, the Mishan City Mall where she worked gave all the workers who were laid off 10,000 yuan (1,400 USD). However, because Ms. Xu is a Falun Gong practitioner, the mall laid her off without giving her any money.

After Ms. Xu was released from jail, she no longer had a job. She went to talk with the Mishan City Mall many times, looking for ways to cover her living expenses, but they would not even talk to her. Ms. Xu is now unemployed, and she still has not fully recovered her health.

Note

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

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/2/23/218699.html