'Why Are The Authorities Still Obstructing Me?'


2014.05.02
china-xinna-650.jpg Xinna in the storeroom of her bookstore in an undated photo.
Photo courtesy of Xinna

Xinna, wife of Inner Mongolian dissident Hada, was recently handed a "serious warning" by judicial authorities after visiting family in another city without police permission. Hada, in his mid-50s, is being held under de facto house arrest after 15 years in jail on charges of "separatism" and "espionage." Xinna, who has been charged with no crime, and who recently wrote to Chinese president Xi Jinping calling for her husband's immediate release, spoke to RFA's Mandarin Service about how officials have targeted her main source of income, a bookshop:

While [I and] my mother were back in Baotou visiting relatives [last week], the electricity in my storeroom was cut off, and the window had been forced open, which shows that someone had come in. At the same time, my mother's phone and Internet service were cut off while she was in Baotou, and I continued to receive text messages threatening me with jail.

While our calls to the international community resulted in my being approved to run the bookshop, secretly it has caused even more trouble.

Texted warning

On the afternoon of April 27, my son Uiles sent me a text suddenly to say that the electricity had been cut off in the storeroom ... and that this was clearly the work of human hands ... When we heard this, the hearts of everyone in the family sank.

At 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon of April 28, I got two more texts, one after the other, which said very clearly that I was being given a police warning for going away on a trip without asking permission. It was signed by the Saihan District Bureau of Justice police station in Hohhot.

I did make a written application before I went to Baotou on that trip, but the police station wouldn't allow it. I have been subject to police controls for a long time, but now they have got the justice bureau to find fault and make trouble for me.

'I don't fear jail'

In the early hours of April 29, my Internet access was completely cut off, and it's impossible to call either my phone or my son's. What I don't get is, I've been given Internet access and allowed to run my bookstore, so why are the authorities still obstructing me and sending me threatening text messages?

Today, when I was having tea with my son, I noticed that we were under surveillance from opposite, from one of the two windows. They have fixed a couple of cylindrical things there, clearly pointing towards our home, where they can see into both of our rooms.

I don't fear being put back in jail. Their behavior towards our family has been a series of illegal acts for years now, that's obvious. So once more I call on the international community to pay attention to the fate of our family.

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated by Luisetta Mudie.

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