(Clearwisdom.net) In June 2001, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Mao Qi, a laid-off worker from Zhoukou City's Cotton Mill, was detained after she went to Beijing to peacefully appeal for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong. Her mother was angry about her arrest, plus she was very ill. Later the mother passed away with a feeling of injustice in her heart. The political protection department of the Public Security Bureau, her workplace, and her neighborhood administration office didn't allow Mao Qi to see her mother for one last time before she died. At the end of 2002, because she couldn't afford to pay 20,000 Yuan in ransom money, Mao Qi was sent to a forced labor camp for a three-year term after serving one and a half year's illegal detention. [500 yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China.]

When Mao Qi went to appeal in Beijing in June 2001 she was arrested and illegally detained at the Tiananmen Square Police Station. She was then sent for further detainment in the Zhoukou City Detention Center.

In July 2001, Mao Qi's ill mother heard that she would be detained for a long period of time, and that the Public Security Bureau refused to release her. Her mother then died knowing that her daughter was suffering at the hands of injustice. Her family pleaded with the authorities to release Mao Qi so that she could attend her mother's funeral. However, the Political Security unit of the Public Security Bureau asked for the assurance of her workplace or from the community office of Nanjiao Village where her residency was registered. The Cotton Mill refused to provide assurance under the excuse that Mao Qi had been laid off. The community office of Nanjiao Village also refused the request by saying that Mao Qi didn't live in Nanjiao Village. As a result, her mother was buried before Mao Qi could see her one last time.

Mao Qi's husband works for the Traffic Bureau in Zhoukou City. In the early months of 2002, when her husband was working, Gao Feng, chief of the political protection unit in Sha'nan Public Security Bureau, phoned him. Gao Feng said that Mao Qi had been detained for a long time and so he asked him to go to the Political Security unit to discuss how to persuade Mao Qi to give up her practice of Falun Gong, and how they could come to an agreement for her release. However when Mao Qi's husband arrived at the Political Security unit, Gao Feng said he heard that he also practiced Falun Gong. Gao Feng had cunningly deceived Mao Qi's husband into going to the Political Security unit so as to persecute him as well. Then, Gao Feng brought Mao Qi's husband to his workplace and home to carry out a search. In the end, Mao Qi's husband was illegally detained for more than three months and then set free without any charge.

At the end of 2002, the Political Security unit sent out a message that Mao Qi could be released without charge and without having to write a statement of guarantee to stop practicing, as long as she paid them 20,000 Yuan. Because Mao Qi had been laid off for a few years, her family couldn't afford to pay the 20,000 Yuan. A month later, the Political Security unit decided to "reeducate" Mao Qi through forced labor for three years under the excuse that she had refused to "repent." So far, Mao Qi has been continuously persecuted for two and a half years, and is still illegally detained in Zhengzhou City's Shibalihe Women's Forced Labor Camp.