Beijing: A Retired Female Engineer is Murdered; Authorities Impose a Tight Information Blockade

June 26, 2002 (Falun Dafa Information Centre): According to reports from Beijing, Ms. Wang Guiju, a 62-year-old engineer, retired from the Beijing Steel Metallurgy Research Institute, was arrested on April 27. The arrest took place at the campus of the People's University and was conducted by the Haidian Police Station and the People's University Neighbourhood Committee. She was tortured to death in mid-May. The Beijing authority has claimed that Ms. Wang had committed suicide by jumping from a building. They had prohibited Ms. Wang's relatives, who had travelled to Beijing for the funeral, from contacting anyone.

According to sources, on April 27, 2002, when Wang Guiju was making some savings transactions at the Industry and Commerce Bank in the People's University campus, the Haidian Police officers and the People's University Neighbourhood Committee arrested her. They first detained Ms. Wang at the Haidian Police Station for two days and then sent her to a brainwashing session held by the Haidian District Office. There, she was forced to endure "reforming through education." On May 19th people from her hometown in Shandong Province first heard the news of her death.

After learning that Wang Guiju had passed away, her nephew, Mr. Wang Guangsheng went to Beijing on May 19. The very next day Ms. Wang's body was cremated. During his stay in Beijing, the authorities only allowed Wang Guangsheng to have one look at Ms. Wang Guiju at the mortuary. He could not obtain any information about Wang Guiju other than the words, "committing suicide by jumping from a building," which was written on her death certificate.

When a reporter called the staff of the Beijing Steel Metallurgy Research Institute on May 26, a man who answered the phone confirmed Wang Guiju's death. He also said: "People who know the details are not allowed to disclose them. It seems that they (the authorities) want to block access to the information."

According to sources, Wang Guiju's family live at the People's University campus. In April 2001 her workplace, the Beijing Steel Metallurgy Research Institute, tried to force Wang Guiju to join the campaign against Falun Gong by insisting that she sign her name to a declaration denouncing Falun Gong, but Wang refused to do so. In mid-May of 2001 more than ten people from the Haidian Police Station, the Beijing Steel Metallurgy Research Institute and the People's University Neighbourhood Committee went to her home, forcibly kidnapped her and sent her to a brainwashing centre set up by the Xinan Female Forced Labour Camp. Against her will, she was "reformed." During the end of September 2001, Minghui (the Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net) published her solemn declaration that all she had said and done under pressure was not in accordance with Falun Dafa and was null and void. Afterwards, she had to flee her home to avoid further persecution, but she was again caught and arrested.

Inside sources also disclosed that because Wang Guiju had persisted in practising Falun Gong, she had been forced to divorce her husband in April 2002. Her two sons are now in Japan and have already learned of her death. The inside sources said that Wang had fled with her purse, two credit cards and a wage card worth approximately 20,000 Yuan, as well as a cell phone and a pager. The police robbed her of all those items when she was arrested.

Our information shows that Wang Guiju is now the 429th Falun Gong practitioner known to have died under the persecution. Observers point out that these are only fraction of the actual number of death cases. The Chinese authorities rigorously block as much information as they can regarding death cases.