(Minghui.org) A Shanghai resident who practices Falun Gong was treated as a terror suspect by the authorities and had her suitcase and cellphone repeatedly searched while taking a train to visit her mother during the Chinese New Year.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual and meditation discipline guided by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. It has been persecuted by the communist regime since 1999.
Before Ms. Li Fuju boarded the train to go to Hunan Province to visit her mother in February 2019 prior to the Chinese New Year, several officers came over and demanded to examine her suitcase and cellphone.
Ms. Li cooperated with the officers, but they didn't find anything of interest and left.
Before the train was about to arrive at the station in Hunan Province, a railroad police officer came to Ms. Li and demanded to check her ticket and ID. After checking them, he took pictures of her ticket and ID but didn't return them to Ms. Li. He also asked for her cellphone number.
After the train stopped, a group of officers at the platform surrounded the door. As Ms. Li exited the train, one officer took pictures of her. The railroad police officer gave her ticket and ID to a policeman at the platform and videotaped the process. The policeman then passed the ticket and ID back to her.
As Ms. Li was walking out of the train station, the officers followed her until her family came to pick her up.
Ms. Li took another train back to Shanghai after the holiday was over. This time a railroad police chief asked to check her ID and suitcase. He brought Ms. Li to an almost-empty first-class cabin and sat next to her during the entire trip in order to restrict her activities on the train.
Ms. Li asked the chief why they treated her like that. He said they received an order that she was a terror suspect.
After the train arrived in Shanghai, the chief turned Ms. Li's ID over to the officers waiting at the platform again. They checked her cellphone and suitcase before letting her go home.
After she returned home, the local police called Ms. Li and told her to appear to answer some questions. She was told that she was still on bail following her earlier arrest on June 5, 2018, for not renouncing her faith and her case hadn't been closed yet. Ms. Li refused to go.
In fact, Ms. Li noticed that officers had been following and monitoring her ever since she was released in June 2018.
This isn't the first time that Ms. Li has been targeted for her faith in Falun Gong. She also had her suitcase checked on the train during a vacation a few years ago. When she asked the police why they had to search her suitcase, they also said that it was because she was a terror suspect.
