Ms. Si Miao (??)

[Refer to point J on China map at: ]

Status: Prisoner of conscience, imprisoned

Gender: Female

Age: 36

City: Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province

Former employer: Institute of Energy Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences; employed as chief financial officer.

Date of arrest: April 22, 2008

Labor camp: Shijiazhuang Women’s “Re-education through Labor” Camp

Other information: Never detained previously

Known Acquaintances Overseas: Mr. Si Yang, brother, U.S. citizen currently residing in Los Angeles. 

Details:

At 8am on April 22, 2008, approximately two dozen personnel from the State Security Bureau and local law enforcement agencies arrested Ms. Si Miao and her father Mr. Si Shilin. Ms. Si was arrested directly from her work place, while Mr. Si was arrested when the officers came to his home, in which they conducted a thorough search, confiscating Falun Gong-related materials, computers and address books.

The two were taken separately to a secret interrogation site, whose precise location remains unknown. One week later, Mr. Si was released, while Ms. Si was transferred to a local detention center. Thirty days later she was sentenced without trial or legal representation to 1.5 years of “re-education through labor” for practicing Falun Gong. Ms. Si’s family has only had contact with her once since her initial detention, a brief meeting after her one-week long interrogation and prior to her transfer to the local detention center. During the meeting, she reported having been deprived of sleep during the interrogation. Since then, the family has been refused permission to see her and has no additional details on her current condition, but fear she is at risk of torture.

According to her father Mr. Si, much of the interrogators questions focused on the activities of his son Mr. Si Yang, a U.S. citizens residing in Los Angeles. The elderly Mr. Si, his wife and his son-in-law remain under tight house arrest, the authorities having confiscated their ID cards and passports to prevent them from traveling.