Middle School Teacher Ms. Jia Wenguang Persecuted at Tianjin Women’s Prison

Name: Jia Wenguang
Gender: Female
Age: 36
Address: Hebei District, Tianjin City
Occupation: Physics Teacher at No. 1 Middle School of Dagang Oil Field
Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 14th, 2010
Most Recent Place of Detention: Tianjin Women’s Prison
City: Tianjin City
Persecution Suffered: Forced labour, brainwashing, imprisonment, detention

When Ms. Jia Wenguang was telling people about Falun Gong in the Jinjiangqiao neighbourhood on January 14th, 2010, she was arrested by officers from the Dajianglu Police Station. This was the third time she had been arrested without just cause.

On February 1st, 2010, the Hebei Police Sub-bureau issued a warrant for her arrest. Police officers coerced Ms. Jia’s seventy-year-old father-in-law to sign the warrant. Ms. Jia Wenguang was taken into custody and sentenced to five years in prison. She was sent to Tianjin Women’s Prison, No. 1 ward, No. 2 sub-ward on August 12th, 2010. The police captains of the ward, Mu Quanfu, Wang Dui, and Liu, continually pressured her and did everything they could to transform [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] her. Ms. Jia wrote to her family, “Living [here] is 10,000 times harder than dying.” To protest her arrest, Ms. Jia refused to do any labour.

On March 24th, 2011, the prison established ward No. 6, with 20 guards and over 140 detainees. Ms. Jia Wenguang was transferred to sub-ward No. 1 in this new ward. Police captain of the ward Wei, along with Yi Keqing, captain of the sub-ward, decided that Ms. Jia must do hard labour in addition to being "transformed." When Ms. Jia refused to do hard labour, the officers then distributed her work quota to the other inmates in her cell, to incite others to hate her.

The inmates worked from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., being allowed only one meal break and two toilet breaks. In order to avoid going to the toilet, they didn't drink much water. They also had to work on weekends. Everyone in the cell was exhausted and blamed Ms. Jia for the heavy workload. Ms. Jia did not have the heart to watch others being punished because of her, so she had to agree to do the labour.

Captain Yi Keqing pretended to be innocent, claiming Ms. Jia did the hard labour willingly, not due to being pressured. She said, “I didn’t set a quota for her and didn’t ask her to work overtime. There can't be anyone left in the cell. That is a regulation of the Prison Bureau.” But she didn't mention a word about the tactics she used to incite the inmates' hatred toward Ms. Jia, which eventually forced her to yield.

Ms. Jia Wenguang has been persecuted several times in the past. She was imprisoned in 2004 for refusing to give up her beliefs.

On July 9th, 2004, Ms. Jia Wenguang went to the school to attend a meeting, but did not return home. On July 12th, someone in her family called the school but weren't given any information about Ms. Jia's whereabouts. On the morning of July 13th, family members took a four-hour bus ride to the school. A newly appointed principal, Mr. Chai, told them, “Ms. Jia was taken away by police on July 9th. The school couldn’t stop them. You need to go to the Gangdong Police Station. If there is any problem with Jia Wenguang, come back and tell us. We are not supposed to make a fuss about the issue or let people know what happened.”

That afternoon, the family went to the Gangdong Police Station, where they were told, “She was sent to Dagang Detention Centre that same day.” When asked why the family wasn't notified of the arrest within 24 hours, the reply was, “That’s not important, we told the school about the criminal detention at the time. The school knows.”

Eventually, Ms. Jia Wenguang was persecuted at Tianjin Women’s Forced Labour Camp.

Tianjin Nanka District Women’s Prison
No. 1 ward captain, Mu Qianfu, No. 2 sub-ward captains Wang Dui and Liu Yu
No. 6 ward captain Wei, No 1. Sub-ward captain Yin Keqing

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/4/21/39356.html