Retired Post Office Worker Arrested

Name: Qian Houbao
Gender: Male
Age: 68
Address: Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province
Occupation: Post office worker, now retired
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 28th, 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Unknown
Persecution Suffered: Detention

Mr. Qian Houbao, a practitioner from Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, was arrested on the evening of September 28th. A few days later his friends still hadn't found out where he was being held because Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities would not release the information.

After the CCP started persecuting Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, Mr. Qian and several other practitioners went to a park to do the exercises to let the local people see the peacefulness and the beauty of the five sets of movements. They also wanted to protest the persecution. That day, Mr. Qian was taken to Chaoyang Police Station in Kunshan City and then held in a detention centre for a month.

Shortly after the close of the Shanghai Expo on October 31st, 2010, the Kunshan City Political and Judicial Committee, the Domestic Security Division, and the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) started a new round of persecution.

This year, the authorities installed surveillance cameras in every residential area and put extra cameras in the areas where practitioners live. All of the cameras were installed to target Falun Gong practitioners. The local practitioners found that even more monitoring devices had been installed around the homes of those who were considered to be the “key” practitioners. These devices have become commonplace in the area.

Before and after the 2011 Chinese New Year, the police went to practitioners' homes one by one to photograph them without their consent. Often, the neighbourhood committee staff members accompanied the police and helped to trick the practitioners into opening the door. The police catch the practitioners by surprise and photograph them. Now, almost all of the practitioners living in Chaoyang residential area, except those who were not at home, have been photographed. When practitioners refused to cooperate with the police, the officers took to hiding near the gate of the residential area or near the practitioners' homes so they could take the photos secretly.

When low-income practitioners went to pick up their living allowances, staff from the Changjiang Neighbourhood Committee asked if they could photograph the practitioners. This approach failed because the practitioners refused the requests.

Responsible work units and individuals include the following members of the Kunshan City Domestic Security Division:
Feng Yi, division head: +86-512-57702840 (Office), +86-512-57592788 (Home), +86-13906260803 (Mobile)
Yu Huixing, deputy head of the division: +86-13809064388 (Mobile), +86-512-57796085 (Home):
Kunshan City 610 Office: +86-512-57719293, +86-512-57700113
Tao Xiaoyu, deputy head of the office: +86-512-57707070
Chen Lin: +86-512- 57700113 (Office)

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/10/3/247445.html