(Minghui.org) Ms. Wei Suwen, a 64-year-old Beijing resident was arrested on June 13, 2024 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. Ms. Wei’s family has not been given any official update on her case status.
Ms. Wei sustained severe back and rib injuries after falling from scaffolding at work decades ago. She made a full recovery after she took up Falun Gong in 1993. After the persecution began, she held firm to her faith and was repeatedly targeted. She was previously given two years of forced labor in 2006 prior to her recent ordeal.
Details of Latest Arrest
The police knocked on Ms. Wei’s door at 9:20 a.m. on June 13, 2024 but left when they were told she was not there.
When Ms. Wei returned from grocery shopping at noon that day, she was stopped by a group of officers at the entrance to her apartment building. Only one of them flashed a police ID, which indicated that he was Guo Han from the Xicheng District Police Department.
Ms. Wei asked to put her groceries inside her home first when the police ordered her to go with them. They agreed, but as soon as she opened the door with her key, officer Sun Jianqiang from the Chang’an Street Police Station and another officer surnamed Li attempted to go in first. Her daughter, who went shopping with her, criticized the police for illegally entering the home without a search warrant.
Ms. Wei’s husband heard the commotion and asked what was going on. Officer Sun yelled at him and accused him of being in contempt of the police.
A policewoman recorded everything from the very beginning, when the police confronted Ms. Li outside the apartment building.
When the police finally took Ms. Wei out of the building, officer Li told her daughter, “I have nothing against you guys, but I must keep my police cam on and do my job.” He claimed what the police did was for Ms. Wei’s good and urged her daughter to persuade her to renounce Falun Gong.
The police took Ms. Wei to the local street committee for interrogation. Her heart began to feel uncomfortable and she looked pale. Officer Li kept questioning her and showed her a letter, “You dropped off this letter at a postal collection box at 4 p.m. on April 16, 2024, right? I looked at every surveillance video to confirm it was you.”
Ms. Wei acknowledge that she did try to mail the letter containing Falun Gong information but emphasized that she did nothing wrong as no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong.
Officer Li replied that the letter alone was enough to take her to a police department. He, however, did not tell Ms. Wei’s family the exact location. Her loved ones still do not know where she is being held.
First Arrest in 2000
Ms. Wei went to Tiananmen Square to appeal for Falun Gong in April 2000 and was arrested. She was kept in a cage at the Tiananmen Police Station for a few days, before being picked up by officers from the police station in her residential area. After a brief interrogation, the police took her to the Xicheng District Lockup. During her month-long detention there, she was forced to do hard labor every day. She was exhausted at the end of every day, her back hurt, her head felt heavy, and her eyes were swollen.
Ms. Wei returned to work after her release in May 2000, only to be told that her pay and bonus would be suspended. In the next three months, she was only given 300 yuan of monthly stipends. Her supervisor gave her an outstanding job evaluation rating but he was forced to change it to “fail to meet expectations.” She asked about the change in rating and he admitted that higher-ups ordered him to do it.
Quite a few colleagues took the initiative to appeal to the higher-ups for Ms. Wei. They vouched for her and commended her for her excellent job performance. Her employer finally restored her normal pay.
Arrested Again in 2001
The Fuwai Police Station officers arrested Ms. Wei at work in July 2001 and took her to a brainwashing center. They tied her hands up and pressed her feet down on the portrait of the Falun Gong founder against her will. They also forced her to watch anti-Falun Gong videos every day.
Given Two Years of Forced Labor in 2006
Four officers broke into Ms. Wei’s office on July 19, 2006 and arrested her. They confiscated her cell phone and the Falun Gong books in her office before taking her to the Zhanlan Road Police Station.
The police promised to give Ms. Wei lighter punishment if she gave them the names of two other Falun Gong practitioners. She refused to comply and was not given anything to eat or drink at the police station. She was also not allowed to sleep.
The next morning, Ms. Wei was taken to the Xicheng District Detention Center. The police gave her two years of forced labor and moved her to a dispatch center. During her two months of detention there, she was forced to do hard labor for more than ten hours without pay every day. Any time an inspection team came, the guards there would have her and other inmates put away the work they were doing and sit down to read a book. As soon as the inspection team left, everyone was made to resume their work.
Ms. Wei was transferred to the Beijing Women’s Labor Camp in October 2006. She was forced to read and watch anti-Falun Gong materials all day long. She refused to write statements to renounce Falun Gong and was forced to sit on a small stool from 4 a.m. to midnight for days on end. Her buttocks festered and bled, causing excruciating pain.
The labor camp guards later had Ms. Wei do all sorts of manual labor without pay. A tendon on her right arm was injured after she was forced to lift a very heavy object. Afterwards, she had trouble moving her arm. Her back hurt badly after doing the intensive labor and she struggled to fall asleep due to the pain.
The labor camp also called Ms. Wei’s daughter frequently to harass her.
Ms. Wei was released early, in January 2008. She returned to work, but the authorities ordered her workplace to demote her from a manager to a rank-and-file employee and downgrade her pay scale by four levels. She also found that her pay was suspended during her two years of forced labor detention.
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