Falun Gong Practitioner Ms. Gao Mingxia Held at Qingdao City Detention Centre

Name: Gao Mingxia
Gender: Female
Age: 45
Address: 1034 Zhonglao Rd., Licang District, Qingdao City, Building 2, Apt. 202
Occupation: Former employee of the Technical Supervision Bureau in Chengyang District
Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 11th, 2010
Most Recent Place of Detention: Qingdao No. 3 Detention Centre
City: Qingdao
Province: Shandong
Persecution Suffered: Home ransacked, forced labour, solitary confinement, brainwashing, sleep deprivation, denied toilet use, torture, detention

Ms. Gao Mingxia is a Falun Gong practitioner from Qingdao City, Shandong Province. She has been held in the Qingdao No. 3 Detention Centre since July 11th, 2010. When her husband tried to get her out of detention he was harassed by different branches of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He ended up getting seriously ill, and died on March 8th, 2011. Because Ms. Gao refused to give up her belief, officials forbade her from seeing her husband before he died.

Ms. Gao had been sickly since she was young and often got headaches. Once she started to practice Falun Gong in March 1999, she became physically and mentally healthy, and conducted herself according to the principles of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance.

After the CCP launched its suppression of Falun Gong in July 1999, she was twice subjected to forced labour.

Guards tortured Ms. Gao when she was incarcerated at the Wangcun Forced Labour Camp in Zibo City in November 2003. She was frequently locked up in the solitary confinement cell, and was tied up for four consecutive days with her arms stretched out, and twice hung from a window frame. The scars from being tied up are still visible.

Ms. Gao was forbidden to sleep for 17 days, forced to sit on a small bench for long periods, and forbidden to use the toilet, brush her teeth, or wash her face. She was not allowed to wash her clothes until her labour camp term was up and she was released.

Ms. Gao visited her neighbour Sun Suqi during the 2007 Chinese New Year and talked about the facts about Falun Gong. She asked the family to remember, "Falun Gong is good." Unfortunately, Sun Suqi and head of the local residential committee Hu Congfang reported her to the police.

Jin Weihong from the Dongshan Residential Committee and several agents from the Xiangtanlu Police Station, including Shao Yue, broke into Ms. Gao's home on March 30th, 2007. They ransacked it and took her to Licun Police Station. She eventually escaped.

Ms. Gao was arrested at around 7:00 p.m. on July 11th, 2010 while walking to her home. Officers from the Lisun Police Station, led by Que Feng, participated in the arrest. Her family quickly learned of her arrest. After arriving at the police station, they were told that she was on the “wanted list” because of her escape in 2007, and was now being criminally charged. Her family called the police station, the court, and other departments about her case but received no clear response. Her case was handed to the Lichang District Court on February 14th, 2011.

Ms. Gao's husband became ill during the 2011 Chinese New Year. In late February, two of Ms. Gao's sisters-in-law visited the Dongshan Residential Committee and the Lichang District Police Department to request her release, so that she could take care of her husband. In addition to being required to show the hospital document, they were ordered to say bad words towards Falun Gong, and to advise Ms. Gao to give up the practice; otherwise, their request would not be considered. They refused. Her husband's health deteriorated, and he died at approximately 10:00 p.m. on March 8th, 2011. Ms. Gao was finally allowed to see her family on March 9th at the detention centre, the first and only time since her detention more than nine months prior. She was not allowed to see her husband in his last moments, all because she would not give into the CCP's demands and stayed steadfast in her belief.

Related personnel and offices:
Dongshan Residential Committee: 86-532-87681546
Licun Police Station: 86-532-66576660
Licang Police Department: 86-532-66576518
Liu Xiangqian, 610 Office personnel: 86-13176865929
Wang Jianyuan, police officer: 86-13697665031

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/3/26/238060.html