Ms. Xie Zhiying, 52, Xinjiang Province

Name: Xie Zhiying (???)
Gender: Female
Age: 52
Occupation: Aksu Tax Bureau employee
Date of Most Recent Arrest: 2001
Date if Most Recent Release: Died while under house arrest
Date of Death: August 6, 2011
Province: Xinjiang Autonomous Uighur Region
City: Aksu
Most Recent Place of Detention: Alar Mental Hospital (????????? )

Case details:

After more than five years of violent abuse at mental hospitals and a forced labor camp, Ms. Xie Zhiying’s employer, under pressure from the local 610 Office, placed her under solitary house arrest. She died alone on August 6, 2011. Her family was not allowed to see the body and the precise cause of death remains unknown.

The Aksu Tax Bureau sent employee Ms. Xie Zhiying to the Alar Mental Hospital when the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999.  Though she was perfectly health, she was given “close treatment” which included drug injections, electric baton abuse and solitary confinement.

When released, she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and against her mistreatment. She was detained in 2001 and the Aksu City Domestic Security Department sentenced her without trial to three years of forced labor at the Wulapo Forced Labor Camp.  Torture at the camp included electric batons, sleep and bathroom deprivation, and severe beatings from drug-addicted prisoners.

Ms. Xie was released in 2004 but was once again detained at the Alar Mental Hospital. Several months later she was released, but her employer and the 610 Office held her under house arrest. They forced her husband to live elsewhere and around-the-clock live-in monitors denied access to any visitors, including her parents, brother and son.  

Ms. Xie’s mother, Ms. Yuan Jingyun, sued the Aksu 610 Office chair Bao Liqun for lack of visitation rights. On June 23, 2011 she was allowed to visit her daughter at her home. Ms. Xie could hardly speak and her whole body shivered, apparently from fear because of the large police presence.  When Ms. Yuan requested to spend the night with her daughter, the 610 Office ordered that five police officers be present so as to prevent Ms. Xie from escaping or “killing her mother.” In reality, since her mother was also a Falun Gong practitioner, the officers likely wanted to prevent the two from meditating or studying Falun Gong teachings, although it would likely have helped improve Ms. Xie’s mental and physical state.

After this visit, Ms. Xie’s mother and brother repeatedly requested to visit her again. But the 610 Office denied additional visits when the family members refused to promise not to hand out flyers about the persecution of Falun Gong.

On August 6, 2011 Ms. Xie died, alone and under house arrest. The 610 Office denied family members from seeing her body and the exact circumstances surrounding her death remain unknown. Her brother, Mr. Xie Zhiming, went to the Aksu 610 Office to appeal but was told, “no one with the last name Xie is allowed to enter this office.”