Ms. Zeng Xianmei Persecuted for 11 Years

Name: Zeng Xianmei
Gender: Female
Age: 47
Address: Hankou Garden, Wuhan City, Hubei Province
Occupation: Railway Employee
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 22nd, 2011
Most recent place of detention: Wuhan Brainwashing Class
City: Wuhan
Province: Hubei
Persecution Suffered: Detention, fired from workplace, brainwashing, beatings, sleep deprivation, food deprivation, denial of toilet use, long-term standing, home ransacked, extortion

Ms. Zeng Xianmei was arrested by policemen from the Hefei Railway Public Security Bureau in Anhui Province on March 22nd. She has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials for her belief in Falun Gong for over 11 years. Her current whereabouts are unknown.

Arrested at Home

Officers from the Hefei Railway Public Security Bureau, with assistance from the Manchun Street Public Security Bureau, broke into Ms. Zeng's home in Hanyou Garden in the afternoon of March 22nd. They ransacked her home and confiscated 6,000 yuan¹ in cash, her computer, mobile phone and other personal belongings.

Ms. Zeng was arrested and detained at the First Detention Centre of the Hefei Railway Public Security Bureau for 15 days before being transferred to Wuhan.

Her family was not notified of the arrest until March 25th, when they received a letter from the Hefei Railway Public Security Bureau.

On March 28th, Ms. Zeng's husband travelled hundreds of miles to Hefei to visit his wife and request the return of personal property and cash confiscated by the police. The authorities did not respond to his requests, however, and he was not allowed to see Ms. Zeng. The Hefei Railway Public Security officials told him that they would call him on April 7th to come and pick her up. However, on April 6th, they notified him that he would need to wait another few days. When he called to inquire on April 12th, he was told that Ms. Zeng had been transferred to the National Security Team of the Wuhan Public Security Bureau.

On April 14th, Ms. Zeng's husband, younger brother and two younger sisters travelled to Wuhan Public Security Bureau to demand her release. Officials confirmed that Ms. Zeng was being detained in a brainwashing centre in Wuhan but refused to disclose which centre. They told the family that Ms. Zeng was detained to be “transformed” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong].

Subjected to Brainwashing and Torture

Ms. Zeng is a former employee of the Wuhan Railway Bureau's electric supply and passenger transport divisions. Before she started practising Falun Gong in 1999, she suffered from frequent hip pain. After she began practising, her hip problems went away.

The CCP launched a brutal persecution against Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999. In February 2000, Ms. Zeng travelled to Beijing to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong and to explain the facts about the practice to government officials. However, she was arrested and detained for 15 days. Afterward, she was sent to her workplace and detained for another 20 days. Subsequently, she was fired from her job.

In December 2000, Ms. Zeng was arrested at home by policemen from the Liujiaoting Street Public Security Bureau and sent to the Etouwan Brainwashing Centre in Qiaokou District, Wuhan City, where she was detained without any due process for over two years and subjected to brutal physical and mental torture.

Once, a policeman at the brainwashing centre beat another Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Yi Zhifa, so badly that his entire body was bruised and swollen. Thereafter, officials forced him to perform manual labour outside in freezing temperatures wearing only thin clothes. Seeing this, Ms. Zeng handed him a pair of trousers. She was reported to Jin Zhiping, section chief of the Qiaokou Division. Jin had previously beaten to death a 32-year-old female practitioner, Ms. Huang Zhao, during an interrogation. The next day, Jin held a prison-wide meeting and singled out Ms. Zeng and threatened her. He then brought out a big metal club and hit her in the head and legs, causing her to fall and injuring her so that she could not walk.

On another occasion, policemen Xiao Ganzhi and Li Hanhua defamed Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Liu Li. The other Falun Gong practitioners stood up to defend Mr. Liu against the false accusations. Xiao brutally attacked Ms. Zeng, breaking her nose and causing bleeding. Several days later, Ms. Zeng's entire face appeared swollen. The brainwashing centre officials said they were not afraid of beating Falun Gong practitioners to death, as they were instructed to claim the cause of death as suicide.

Due to malnutrition and suffering physical and mental torture, Ms. Zeng's health deteriorated. She began to again practise the Falun Gong exercises to improve her condition. However, when officials found out, they viciously beat her and then transferred her to the First Detention Centre of the Wuhan Public Security Bureau for 15 days. Thereafter, she was brought back to the brainwashing centre for further persecution.

In mid-May 2002, Ms. Zeng tried to escape by climbing over a wall in the brainwashing centre. However, she broke her foot in the process and was taken to the hospital, where 610 Office agents (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) and other officials continued to harass, threaten and pressure her to renounce her belief in Falun Gong.

On August 27th, 2005, Ms. Zeng was reported to the authorities while she was distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong in Daliuwan, Sancha Town, Xiaogan City, Hubei Province. She was arrested and sent to the Xiaogan City Public Security Bureau's Detention Centre, where she was detained for 15 days. Thereafter, she was transferred to Wuhan and imprisoned in the notorious Erdaopeng Brainwashing Centre in Jianghan District, Wuhan City. While in detention, she was subjected to periods where she was not allowed to sleep, eat, or go to the toilet. She was also forced to stand facing a wall for prolonged periods of time and endured other torture methods. She was released three months later.

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/2011/4/19/239265.html