(Minghui.org) A 68-year-old retired teacher in Linyi City, Shandong Province, is facing prosecution for mailing a letter to police officers urging them to stop persecuting her faith, Falun Gong.
Ms. Ma Shaoli was arrested at her home on May 8, 2026, by officers from the Longjiaquan Township Police Station and the Yishui County Police Department. They produced a search warrant without a signature and raided her home.
The police said that after Ms. Ma was released from a 15-day detention from a previous arrest in 2024, she wrote a letter to the Yishui County Police Department, urging the officers not to participate in the persecution. Instead of addressing her concerns, the police arrested her again.
Ms. Ma is currently held at the Linyi City Detention Center. She has been indicted by the local procuratorate and now faces trial.
Ms. Ma’s parents-in-law are in their 90s and relied on her and her husband for care. Her father-in-law, in particular, struggles with side effects from a stroke. Her arrest left her husband, in his 70s, in a dire situation.
Ms. Ma, born in March 1958, used to have many ailments, including heart and stomach issues. She fully recovered only one month after taking up Falun Gong. After the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution in 1999, her peaceful life was shattered.
Ms. Ma was arrested on July 23, 1999, and held at a middle school for four days. She was also fined 500 yuan.
For doing Falun Gong exercises in a park in the spring of 2000, Ms. Ma was arrested again and was detained for six weeks.
She was arrested again on April 19, 2008, after a group of officers broke into her home. She was held at the Yishui County Detention Center for 27 days and then given 15 months at the Jinan City Women’s Forced Labor Camp.
The persecution left her family living in fear.