Yu Meiying - 余美英

Chinese name:
余美英
Gender:
Female
Age:
70
City:
Shaowu City
Province:
Fujian
Occupation:
Date of Death:
2004-12
Date of Most Recent Arrest:
Most recent place of detention:
Case Description:

Ms. Yu Meiying, 70, went to Beijing to appeal in 2001, and was detained by local police for two weeks. Her daughter Ms. Wei Jianyu was illegally sentenced to four years in jail in Fuzhou City, and then detained in the Fujian Province Women's Prison. By late 2003, Ms. Wei was emaciated as a result of being tortured. After being released in April 2004, she stayed with her mother in Shaowu City. In November 2004, someone saw her practicing the Falun Gong exercises in a park and reported her to the police, who then arrested her and incarcerated her at the local police station. She started a hunger strike and was subsequently released. A few days later, the police again arrested her. Without notifying her family members, she was sent directly to the Fuzhou Women's Forced Labor Camp. When Ms. Yu went to visit her daughter at the detention center, she discovered that she was not there. There was no information available regarding where she was being held.

Her son's death, her daughter's second arrest after prolonged detention, and the fact that her family members had been so terribly persecuted seriously affected Ms. Yu's body and spirit. She became bedridden after returning from her trip to search for her daughter at the detention center and died in December 2004.