(Minghui.org) A retired railroad employee was arrested at her daughter’s home and detained for 12 days after it was discovered that she’d mailed a letter to a government official urging him not to participate in the persecution of Falun Gong, a mind-body practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Ms. Li Shoulan, in her late 60s, was given a comprehensive physical exam following her arrest, but she was never given the exam results or told the purpose of the exam. She suspects it was likely done to collect her biometrics to see if she would be a good donor for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s ongoing program of forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Li splits her time between her own residence in Wanyuan City, Sichuan Province, and her daughter’s in the Hanbin District of Ankang City, Shaanxi Province, about 70 miles away.
On February 22, 2023, agents from Gaoxin Police Department, Jiangbei Police Station, and Railroad Police Department descended on Ms. Li’s daughter’s place of work, the Ankang City Railway Bureau Electrical Department. They ordered her to take them home to arrest her mother. Her supervisor warned her to not return to work if she failed to “handle” the situation.
Ms. Li was arrested at her daughter’s home and taken to the Gaoxin Police Department, where about eight agents awaited her. She demanded to know their names, phone numbers, and job titles. Only two people gave her the information, but the police later confiscated her notes.
During the interrogation, Ms. Li managed to discover the identities of several others, including Fan Yongbin (secretary of the Ankang City Political and Legal Affairs Committee), Luo Junkang, and Tang Mei.
They showed Ms. Li a letter addressed to Wang Hao, mayor of Ankang City. Wang ordered the police to find out who’d mailed it to him. The police also played a video showing someone dropping off a letter at a mailbox. But the video was blurry and one could not make out who the person was.
The police took turns interrogating Ms. Li, asking her where she got the letter to mail to mayor Wang. They next took her to the Railroad Hospital for a comprehensive physical exam, including a COVID-19 test, blood test, electrocardiogram, and eye exam. They then took her back to Gaoxin Police Department to collect her fingerprints, which they did many times as they were not satisfied with the results.
The next morning, Ms. Li faced another round of interrogation. Two officers, one surnamed Xu, restrained her on a tiger bench. They repeatedly asked her who gave her the letter, where she took the bus, who did she go with to the mailbox, and how she contacted other practitioners.
Ms. Li refused to answer any of their questions. One officer pushed her inside a glass room and said, “Stay here! Don’t even think about getting comfortable here!”
The police brought in an eye exam instrument at around 2 p.m. Even though they were not medical professionals, they attempted to examine Ms. Li’s eyes. They turned on the device to shine a bright light at her eyes as one person pried open her upper eyelid and another her lower eyelid.
Not knowing how to operate the instrument, they took turns trying to figure it out. Ms. Li was treated like a guinea pig with one officer after another poking her eyes. The instrument then broke. The police called in a technician but he couldn’t fix it. They reported the situation to their supervisor, “We’ve spent several hours trying to make this thing work. And she’s not cooperating with us. How much longer should we try?”
The police eventually stopped when it was time to get off work. Ms. Li’s eyes still hurt more than two months after the incident.
They held her at the Gaoxin Police Department for two days before taking her to Hanbin District Lockup, where she was detained for 10 days.
The police also raided her daughter’s home after dropping off her at the lockup. They confiscated a copy of Zhuan Falun, the main teaching of Falun Gong, and deceived her daughter into turning over her mother’s phone to them.
On March 27, Ms. Li’s daughter had just returned home from working her night shift when she received a call from the Gaoxin Police Department. They ordered Ms. Li to report to them immediately. Her daughter ignored them, only to have agents from Guanmiao Police Station break in and arrest her and her mother.
The mother and daughter were both taken to Guanmiao Police Station. The police interrogated Ms. Li that afternoon. They showed her the letter again and pressed her to reveal who wrote it and who gave it to her to mail to mayor Wang. She said that she wrote the letter and mailed it, but she broke no law when she did. When she asked the police to read it aloud, they stopped the interrogation and released Ms. Li and her daughter.
Ms. Li’s daughter has been under tremendous pressure since her arrest in February 2023. The Gaoxin Police Department, Jiangbei Police Station, Guanmiao Police Station, the Railroad Police Department, her employer the Ankang City Railway Bureau Electrical Department, and the local street committee have all ordered her to keep an eye on her mother and not let her step out the door. The police also ordered her to be on standby, ready to accompany her mother to the police department to face questioning. To make things worse, her employer threatened to fire her if she didn’t do a good job monitoring her mother.
As a full-time working mom, Ms. Li’s daughter has to drop off and pick up her child every day. The police even harassed the child’s after-school tutor, ordering him to report any suspicious activities he saw the child’s family engaged in.
Ms. Li’s daughter buckled under the tremendous pressure when the police came to arrest her mother on March 27. She hit her mother when the police broke in that day. Ms. Li did not blame her because she knew how much her daughter was suffering because of the persecution.
When Ms. Li was first arrested on February 22, the police also raided her daughter’s parents-in-law’s home.
During the past 24 years of the persecution, many other family members and friends of Ms. Li have also been implicated. Her husband lived in fear and died years ago. Her 93-year-old mother still trembles at the sight of the police.
Ankang Municipal Government: +86-915-3213217Wang Hao, mayor of Ankang City: +86-13892809606Wu Wengang, secretary of the Municipal Party Committee: +86-18991500007
Wang Anzhong, secretary of the Municipal Political and Legal Affairs Committee: +86-8809155638Zhu Rongjun, secretary of the Municipal Disciplinary Committee: +86-13709155352Zhang Guangdong, director of Ankang City Police Department: +86-13991810585Zhang Peng, executive deputy director: +86-15209159008Zhou Bin, deputy director: +86-13709158789, +86-13909155609Yang Lun, deputy director: +86-13659156665Cui Ruili, deputy director: +86-19909150008Yang Wenhao, deputy director: +86-13399156695Ma Qinjue, deputy director: +86-13709153733Wang Bingtao, deputy director: +86-19991529719Cao Jiankang, deputy director: +86-19991529789Gaoxin Police Department: +86-915-8196102Deng Mingshan, director of Gaoxin Police Department: +86-13909156565Kang Houqian, deputy director: +86-19991539168Zhang Qunxing, officer: +86-13992586398Zhu Dingxin, officer: 13992538236Peng Xuejun, officer: +86-13619159666, +86-18991518886Deng Tao, officer: +86-18992593366, +86-13991528275Lu Jinrong, officer: +86-13891555687Luo Junkang, officer: +86-19909151012Fan Yongbin, secretary of Hanbin District Political and Legal Affairs Committee: +86-15319697999, +86-13609250093Ren Jiabing secretary of the Hanbin District Political and Legal Affairs Committee: +86-13700253166Zhang Fengtao, deputy secretary: +86-15109156385Wang Hong, deputy secretary: +86-15319697999Chen Xuejun, 610 director: +86-13309157078, +86-915-3227610Luo Junkang: +86-19909151012Tang Mei: +86-13991519217Zhang Peng: +86-15209159008Zhou Bin: +86-13709158789Zhou Yunshui, head of Hanbin District Domestic Security Office: +86-19909156928Zhao Silin, team leader : +86-19909155687, +86-13992516678Baima Cimu, officer: +86-15091657737Guanmiao Police Station: +86-915-3758375Jiangbei Police Station: +86-915-3313868Railway Police Station: +86-915-2224738Electric Department of Ankang City Railway Bureau: +86-915-3758046