(Minghui.org) Having grown up in fear due to the persecution of her mother’s faith in Falun Gong, Ms. Shao Shuwen’s daughter was devastated to find out her mother has been secretly sentenced to six years following her arrest last year.
Ms. Shao, a 62-year-old retired factory worker in Tianjin, was reported by a “volunteer” for distributing Falun Gong informational materials in a residential area on April 24, 2019. Such “volunteers” are retirees recruited by the police. They take turns patrolling the neighborhoods to monitor the residents. The “volunteer” who reported Ms. Shao followed her home and recorded her address.
At 7 a.m. the next day, officers ransacked Ms. Shao’s residence and confiscated her two computers, a printer, and all of her Falun Gong materials. She was taken to the Beichen Detention Center.
She was indicted in late October 2019. It’s been recently confirmed by Minghui.org that she was sentenced to six years by the Beichen District Court and has been taken to the Tianjin Women’s Prison. Details of her sentencing remain unclear at the time of writing.
Past Persecution
This wasn’t the first time that Ms. Shao has been targeted for practicing Falun Gong, which she credits for curing her depression and heart disease. Her husband died in the early 1990s when their daughter was only 5, but her good health enabled her to raise her daughter alone.
In early 2001, she was summoned to the police station, where she was arrested and then taken to the local detention center. Without due process, she was given 1.5 years in Banqiao Women’s Forced Labor Camp.
The labor camp guards denied her family visits and prohibited her from talking to anyone. They also deprived her of many daily necessities, including toilet paper and sanitary napkins.
Ms. Shao was forced to do unpaid labor, sometimes making seat cushions and paper boxes overnight. When she wasn’t working, the guards forced her to sit on a small stool for long hours without moving as they read articles slandering Falun Gong to her and ordered her to write thought reports.
Because she remained firm in her faith in Falun Gong, the guards sometimes forced her to stand overnight or bombarded her with verbal abuse and propaganda overnight.
Her daughter was in middle school at that time. Without Ms. Sao to care for her, she stayed in the school dormitory and borrowed money from her relatives to cover her living expenses.
Less than two years after Ms. Shao was released in July 2002, she was arrested again on April 14, 2004, after being reported for raising awareness about the persecution.
When her daughter returned home from school, she was so terrified to see her raided home in a mess that she didn’t dare to stay at home by herself. She bounced between her neighbors and relatives. Due to the mental stress and irregular living arrangements, she failed the college entrance exam and began to do odd jobs to support herself.
At the same time, Ms. Shao held a hunger strike to protest the persecution. The guards force-fed her and caused severe stomach bleeding, which almost took her life.
Ms. Shao was held in the detention center until December 2004 and then transferred to the Tianjin Women’s Prison after she was sentenced to two years.
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