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Protect Women's and Children's Rights: An Appeal for the Release of Nursing Mother Ms. Lu Yanna, a Falun Gong Practitioner
(Clearwisdom.net) In 2000, the policeman in Longkou City, Shandong
province beat an elderly lady to death, simply because she was exercising her
constitutional right to appeal the injustice against Falun Gong. The elderly
lady's name is Ms. Xiangcui Tian. Today, the authorities abducted and illegally
detained a young mother, Lu Yanna, who was still breastfeeding her baby. The
officials in the government of Fengyi Town, took these actions to retaliate
against Ms. Lu because they discovered that Ms. Lu had publicly exposed their
crime of beating Xiangcui Tian to death. Because Lu Yanna exposed the murder, she was tortured by policeman Xiangyang
Ma in Longkou Police Station, until she became unconscious three times . Because
she told the truth, she and her husband were forced to leave home for more than
three years to avoid unlawful arrest. Because she persisted in being a good
person, she was put on a "wanted list" that offered a 60,000 Yuan (1) reward to
those who caught her. Her grandmother died from the stress of being harassed and
terrorized constantly by the police from the Xiadingjia Police Station in
Longkou City. On April 8, 2004, Lu Yanna's husband, Xihui Diao disappeared after he went
out to hand out truth-clarifying materials. After that, Ms. Lu, who was a new
mother with a 10-day-old baby, was abducted by police from her home and taken
600 miles away to Longkou City. I was shocked when I learned of this news. Lu Yanna was a woman who had just
given birth to a baby 10 days earlier. The inhume behavior of the policemen in
Longkou broke numerous laws and regulations including the Law of Women's
Right to Protection, the Law of Women and Children's Rights to Protection.
Not only was Ms. Lu persecuted, but also her newborn baby was hurt physically
and psychologically. The third article of the first chapter of the Law of Women's Right to
Protection declares, "It is the obligation of all of the people to protect
the legal rights of women. The government, social groups, companies, the
self-ruled organizations should protect the rights of women following this law
and related law. The government adopts effective measures to provide the
necessary conditions to ensure the woman execute their rights. Article 25
mentions clearly: "Women need special protection when they are in menstruation,
pregnancy, childbirth, and lactation." However, the government officials
abducted Lu Yanna while she was recovering from childbirth and while she was
nursing, which caused great emotional and physical pain to all concerned. Article 34 states, "The freedom of the living body of a woman should not be
infringed upon. Illegal detention and any other measures which bereave or limit
the freedom of women are forbidden. Illegally searching a woman's body is
forbidden." Article 39 states, "A Woman's rights to her reputation and dignity are
protected by the law. Any means that impair a woman's reputation and dignity
including insult, slander, and violation of women's privacy are forbidden." Article 49 states, "Any behavior impairing the legal rights of women and
breaking this law or other law and rules with defined punishment, must be
punished by these laws and rules." Article 52 states, "Any behavior impairing the legal rights of women and
causing damage to property or other loss, should compensate the loss by the law
or take the corresponding civil responsibility." In the first chapter (General Rules) of Order No. 308 of the State Department
of the People's Republic of China --"The Implementation of Mothers and
Infants Health Protection Law", Article 4 states, "Citizens have the right
to find out information regarding the protection of the health of mothers and
infants. The government ensures that citizens have the rights to obtain the
proper service of the protection of the health of mothers and infants." Article 6 states, "All levels of the government should put the work of the
protection of the health of mothers and infants into their plan of economic and
social development, provide the necessary financial, technical, and material
condition to support the development of the protection of the health of mothers
and infants, and provide the special support for the work of the protection of
the health of mothers and infants in areas with poor economic conditions." Article 8 states, "The financial, police, civil, education, labor protection,
family planning department and other departments in government above the level
of county should coordinate the medical departments on the same level in their
own range of obligation to protect the health of mothers and infants." Article 30 states, "Maternity leave is the right of woman given by the
government. If a woman has an infant less than 12 month old, the employer should
allow her to take some time off from her working days for lactation purpose."
The articles to protect children and environment in the Plan of
Development of Children in Shandong Province (2001-2010) state: Consummate and implement the related laws and rules to protect the children's
right: 1) To protect children's right in living, development, being-protected and
involvement by law 2) To punish any lawbreaking behavior impairing children's legal rights. -- Control and reduce the number of criminal cases in impairing children's
legal rights. Abusing, abandoning, and killing children, especially girls, and
disabling children are forbidden. Make the social environment of children's
development better. --Respect children, take good care of children, and avoid the children
suffering any forms of discrimination and hurt. According to the news on May 26, 2004 on Minghui.net, the policeman in
Longkou City tried to force Lu Yanna to write a release which would allow her
family members to take care of the 10-day-old infant who was crying for her
mother's milk. Ms. Lu refused to write it and wrote a letter describing the
persecution her family suffered. The authorities, fearful of the evidence of
their crimes, refused to accept her letter. However, they still forced Lu Yanna
to hand over the baby to her family members. The poor baby girl--less than 30
days old, lost her right to be fed with her mother's milk. Now, Lu Yanna has
started a hunger strike in protest against the persecution and of having her
baby taken from her. She was detained secretly in Beihai Hospital for
intravenous injections and her family members were not allowed to see her. Facing injury and pain caused by abuse, Lu Yanna, a woman who should be a
happy mother enjoying the bliss of having just given birth to a child, must
surely feel that her happiness has been stolen from her. Her little baby girl
has been taken from her side, when instead she should be in her mother's arms
enjoying her mother's warmth and breast milk. The murderer who beat Xiangcui
Tian to death and who should be punished is instead still enjoying freedom,
while a kind and innocent new mother was unjustly arrested and her 10-day-old
baby taken from her by force simply because she told the truth about the murder.
The wicked policemen in Longkou City, who murder good people and crush humanity,
should be brought to justice. We sincerely hope that people all over the world will be concerned about Lu
Yanna and her little baby, and lend their support, so that this mother who is
being tortured will soon be released and have her baby returned to her. To
protect human rights and respect, let us try our best. Voices of justice from
every place will play an important role in ending the persecution. We sternly
warn the wrongdoers in Longkou: Stop your wicked behavior and no longer help a
tyrant to do evil. We hope that under the condemnation and pressure of
international organizations and people with a sense of justice, the government,
the police station and the Women's Union of Longkou City can really implement
China's laws in favor of women and children and make them a reality. Restore
freedom unconditionally to Lu Yanna's family. All kind-hearted people will
continue to watch how Lu Yanna's case develops. We are watching her situation
closely. Appendix: The perpetrators in Longkou City and
their phone numbers: Chenhui Wang：86-535-162567083,86-13963801066 Daotang Ma：86-535-95958-7710,86-13001606810 Zhuangda Qi：86-535-95950-6338949,86-13505451806 Ruqi Jing:：86-535-95958-86120 Xiaoli Liu：86-535-162563213 Headquarters of "610 Office" (2)：0535-8622610,0535-8622556 "610 Office"：0535-8503460 Notes (1) Yuan is the unit of Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average
monthly income of an urban worker in China. (2) The "610 Office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun
Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all
other political and judiciary systems. Posting date: 8/1/2004 |