Teacher From Heilongjiang Province Subjected to Forced Labour for Third Time for Refusing to Be a Spy

Name: Zhao Yuxia
Gender: Female
Age: 61
Address: Harbin City
Occupation: Elementary school teacher in Lalin Town, Wuchang City
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 3rd, 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Qianjin Forced Labour Camp
City: Harbin
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Forced labour, brainwashing, fired from workplace, detention

Ms. Zhao Yuxia, 61, was an elementary school teacher in Lalin Town, Wuchang City, Heilongjiang Province. Through practising Falun Gong, she regained her health. Because she wished to share how she benefited from the practice and talked to others about it, she was fired from her job and persecuted. Recently, she was subjected to forced labour for the third time. It was very difficult for her family to find out where she was being held.

Preventing Ms. Zhao's family members from knowing her whereabouts

Ms. Zhao was followed and arrested as she posted materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong around 8 a.m., August 3rd, 2011. When she did not return home, her family became worried and kept calling her cell phone. The next morning, around 10 a.m., someone finally answered their calls. The person who answered the phone was very rude and hung up abruptly when he was asked who he was.
After the family redialed Ms. Zhao's number several times, the man finally answered again. Ms. Zhao's daughter asked, "Where is my mother? We are worried and want to see her." The man refused to answer their questions directly and claimed that the phone was found by someone and given to him. He finally agreed to return the phone. The man was Yan Shiwei from the Daoli District Police Branch of Harbin City.
Later that day, the family went to the Daoli District Police Branch but they were not even allowed to enter the gate. On the third day, Ms. Zhao's family went there again. Finally only one person was allowed to come inside, and Ms. Zhao's daughter-in-law had to wait outside. When Ms. Zhao's daughter met Yan Shiwei, he changed his mind and refused to return the phone and other personal property as he had previously agreed to do. Instead, he yelled at her, causing Ms Zhao's daughter to burst into tears.

Subjected to forced labour for refusing to be a spy

With persistent effort, Ms. Zhao's family were able to find out where she was being held and the details of what happened. She had been arrested by officers from the Anjing Police Station in the Daoli District and taken to the Yizhiquan Detention Centre later the same day. During her detention, her family members went to the police station several times and asked for her release. The people in charge refused their request, saying that Ms. Zhao had “disturbed the social order” and refused their demand that she act as a spy. They also ordered her family to advise Ms. Zhao to agree to their conditions of release, otherwise she would be subjected to forced labour.

When the family was finally allowed to visit Ms. Zhao in the detention centre on August 29th, she told them, "I was ordered to be a spy, which I will never agree to." On August 31st, her relatives were not allowed to visit her and were told that Ms. Zhao was to be subjected to two years forced labour. At that time, Ms. Zhao had been on hunger strike for seven days. She was taken to the Jianjin Forced Labour Camp in Harbin City on September 1st.

One month later, Ms. Zhao's daughter was allowed to visit her mother under strict surveillance and with several guards present. Another relative who came with Ms. Zhao's daughter was turned away because she was a Falun Gong practitioner. The guard viciously said, "If you come here again, the next time even the daughter will not be allowed in." Ms. Zhao's daughter brought her some food and basic articles for personal use, but she was not allowed to give them to her.

Ms. Zhao Yuxia went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on January 22nd, 2001 and was detained and persecuted. She was arrested on May 4th, 2007, and subjected to one year of forced labour in the Wanjia Forced Labour Camp. She was sent to the Jianjin Forced Labour Camp on April 16th, 2009, and subjected to one year of forced labour. On August 3rd, 2011, she was once again subjected to forced labour. She was fired from her teaching position because she remained steadfast in her spiritual belief, Falun Gong, and thus had no income for over 10 years. Even at her age, she still had to work.

Key Persecutors:

Yao Shoujun, deputy of Daoli District Domestic Security Division: +86-15045652026(Mobile)
Yan Shiwei, police in the domestic security division: +86-13134513939 (Mobile)
Wang Xincun, police in the domestic security division: +86-15046046333 (Mobile)
Jianjin Forced Labour Camp: +86-451-84115086

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2011/11/4/248706.html