(Minghui.org)
Name: Ma XueqingChinese Name: 马雪青Gender: FemaleAge: 53City: DalianProvince: LiaoningOccupation: Legal professionalDate of Death: January 5, 2023Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 3, 2016Most Recent Place of Detention: Liaoning Province Women’s Prison
A Dalian City, Liaoning Province resident died on January 5, 2023, barely three years after she completed a 3.5-year prison term for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. She was two weeks shy of her 54th birthday.
Ms. Ma Xueqing graduated from China University of Political Science and Law with a major in international law in 1987. She landed a job at the legal department of Dalian Branch, CCPIT (China Council for the Promotion of International Trade). After she took up Falun Gong in 1996, she became a more conscientious worker and was once awarded the national “employee of the year.”
Such a dedicated legal professional, however, was repeatedly targeted for her faith after the persecution began in 1999. Ms. Ma served two prison terms totaling six and a half years and was also given two years of forced labor. Her employer fired her in 2008 after she finished her first prison term.
Below are details of Ms. Ma’s persecution over the years.
Four officers from the Chunhai Police Station arrested Ms. Ma at home on April 20, 2000, right before she was about to leave for Beijing to attend a business conference. The police said that the arrest was to prevent her from appealing for Falun Gong in Beijing. They held her at the Dalian Drug Rehabilitation Center for more than a month before releasing her on June 1 that year. They also fined her 7,000 yuan.
The same police station dispatched officers to shadow Ms. Ma and arrested her on July 5, 2000, when she went to visit a teenage girl whose parents were both detained for practicing Falun Gong. The police raided Ms. Ma’s home afterwards, without finding any Falun Gong-related materials. Nonetheless, they still took her to the Dalian City Detention Center and later transferred her to a brainwashing center. She was released on September 6, 2000.
The police broke into Ms. Ma’s home on the night of April 15, 2002 and took her to the Dalian City Detention Center again. She exhibited symptoms of a heart condition and was released four days later.
Ms. Ma was at work on August 12, 2002 when six officers suddenly broke in and raided her office. They dragged her outside and tossed her into their cruiser. They cuffed her hands behind her back so tightly that her thumbs almost became disabled. While on-route to the hospital for a physical examination, she experienced heart problems again. The police attempted to bribe the hospital doctor to sign paperwork saying she was fit for detention. The doctor refused but the police still gave Ms. Ma two years of forced labor.
The reception desk at the notorious Masanjia Labor Camp had already closed by the time the police drove Ms. Ma there. With no one conducting the mandatory physical examination or processing the required paperwork, the police still dumped her in the lobby. The guards accepted her.
Ms. Ma’s condition quickly declined and she was soon diagnosed with electrolyte imbalance, cardiac embolism, and ketoacidosis (high urinary ketone level). The labor camp called her family on September 5, 2002 to pick her up. Her loved ones were forced to pay 3,000 yuan as bail bond. She had become so weak that she could not walk on her own and had to be carried upstairs to her apartment unit.
The police broke into Ms. Ma’s home on April 7, 2003. She was not in. They rushed to her office to arrest her. She again exhibited health problems. The police sent her to the hospital and gave up their attempt to detain her. Nonetheless, they later still harassed Ms. Ma at her office many times. Her husband was unable to cope and divorced her.
Ms. Ma went to visit a friend on September 6, 2004 and was arrested on arrival by police who had been following her. They took her to the Chunhai Police Station. The next day they handcuffed her and took her back to her apartment to raid her home. They paraded her in the apartment building to humiliate her. She again had an episode of heart disease and was released the following night.
Ms. Ma was arrested on July 28, 2005, after the police discovered that she had mailed out letters exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. The arresting officers from the Chunhai Police Station took her to the Dalian City Detention Center. The Zhongshan District Court sentenced her to three years on April 28, 2006 and her appeal was denied by the Dalian City Intermediate Court on June 8 that year.
She served time at the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison (located in the capital city of Shenyang). After she was released in July 2008, her employer fired her.
Ms. Ma was arrested again on May 3, 2016, while removing posters smearing Falun Gong from a community board. She was taken to the Dalian City Detention Center. About two weeks later, she developed health problems, including high blood sugar, and was rushed to the Dalian City Third Hospital. Two officers watched her in the hospital around the clock. The Zhongshan District Court sentenced her to three and a half years with a 10,000-yuan fine in December 2016. Her appeal was denied on March 15, 2017. She was transferred to the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison on April 25, 2017.
Ms. Ma was released on November 3, 2019 but still faced constant harassment from local police and community workers. Her health kept declining and she died on January 5, 2023.
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