Ms. Xu Hui Imprisoned for Displaying a Banner in Tiananmen Square; Family Members Prohibited from Visiting Her
 

Ms. Xu Hui, a Falun Gong practitioner from Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, was illegally arrested on July 20, 2007, after displaying a banner in support of Falun Gong in Tiananmen Square. She is currently imprisoned in the notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Liaoning Province. Her son, Cai Chao, was also arrested. Over the ensuring four and a half months, Ms. Xu's husband has gone to Beijing three times and Masanjia twice, but he has not been able to meet her. Her family is very worried about her.

On July 20, 2007, Ms. Xu Hui and her son, Cai Chao, went to Tiananmen Square to display a truth-clarification banner that read "The Chinese Communists Are Harvesting Organs from Living Falun Gong Practitioners." The two also shouted, "Stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners!" This magnificent demonstration attracted hundreds of people until policemen on Tiananmen Square pinned them to the ground, took them to Tiananmen Police Station, and later transferred them to Dongcheng District Police Branch in Beijing.

Two weeks later, Ms. Xu's family went to Dongcheng District Police Branch. The person in charge of Ms. Xu was Cao Yongzhi. Ms. Xu and her son were already imprisoned in Dongcheng Detention Center at that time. On August 7, her family went to the Dongcheng Detention Center. Cao Yongzhi met with them and refused to let them visit with Ms. Xu. They were only allowed to look at her and her son from several dozen meters away. Cai Chao's father could only see half of his son's swollen red face from afar and could not say anything at all.

Ten days later, Ms. Xu's husband went to visit them again to give them clothes and food and to see if Ms. Xu was really imprisoned there. This time, however, Cao Yongzhi refused to let him see them at all.

Another two weeks passed, and Ms. Xu's family called Cao Yongzhi many times. Cao told them that she was no longer at Dongcheng, but said that he "didn't know" where she had been taken. Her family was very worried and called the Dongcheng Detention Center. The Detention Center said that "these two people are really not here now," they "did not know" where the pair had been taken.

Ms. Xu's family called Cao Yongzhi again, but he refused to answer. They called Cao's superiors and asked, "How can Cao not know where two people have been taken when he is the person responsible?" Cao's superior instead asked him to wait. Ms. Xu's family became even more worried and kept on calling Cao, but Cao simply refused to answer. One day Cao finally answered and said that Ms. Xu and her son had been taken to the Tuanhe Labor Camp Dispatch Center. However, when her family arrived, the receptionist still refused to let them meet with her.

In October, Ms. Xu and her son were taken to Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. On October 15, her family went to Masanjia to visit, but was again refused, because Ms. Xu refused to be "transformed." Her husband left behind some clothes with the labor camp, but when the guards opened up the registry, they could not find Ms. Xu's name. This made her family even more doubtful and anxious. Her husband said that they just needed to see her once and would be content, but the officials still refused. When asked why, they said that it was because Ms. Xu refused to be "transformed."

Her husband also went to Masanjia to visit his son, Cai Chao. the 6th Group guards said that the province was conducting an inspection and asked him to come back later. When he later returned at around 4 p.m., they still refused to let him visit his son, for the same reason--that he refused to be "transformed."

On November 15, when Ms. Xu's family went to Masanjia again, not only were they not allowed to see them, but the labor camp officials also extorted money from them, claiming it was needed for "force-feeding" Ms. Xu. Her family refused to pay. (The previous time they left 400 yuan for Ms. Xu, the authorities confiscated it.) Her husband did not get to see Ms. Xu and went then to the 6th Group. After a series of pleadings, he was allowed to see Cai Chao. The skin on the fingers of his right hand had all peeled off, and one finger on his left hand was swollen and festering. Even so, the guards continued to make him to do forced labor.

Ms. Xu Hui's father is already 93 years old and has been hospitalized for a very long time. He really needs his daughter to take care of him. Cai Chao's grandmother is 87 years old. After hearing that her only grandson was in a forced labor camp, her health deteriorated, and she could no longer live without help. Ms. Xu's husband has been unemployed for many years and does not have any income. Moreover, he is also sick. In the months that Ms. Xu and her son were persecuted, he could only survive through injection and drugs. He survived on a several hundred yuan pension that his mother receives every month.