Ms. Xu Na

[Refer to points A, F, H on Beijing map]

Status: In detention, awaiting trial

Gender: Female

Age: 40

City: Beijing

Former Workplace: Artist, graduate student at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.

Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 26, 2008

Last Place Detained: Chongwen District Detention Center, Beijing [point A, Beijing Map]

Known Acquaintances Overseas: Angel (Jie) Li, currently residing in Los Angeles. Ms. Li shared a prison cell with Xu Na during Ms. Xu’s five-year imprisonment; Marianne Lefebvre, Belgium

Other information: Wife of Yu Zhou, detailed above. Xu Na had previously been detained for five years in the eighth ward of the Beijing Women’s Prison, located at 12 Weiyonglu, Daxing District, Beijing. [point H, Beijing Map]

Details:

Xu Na, the 40-year-old widow of Yu Zhou, was arrested together with her husband on January 26th, 2008 while driving home together from a concert and taken to Tongzhou Detention Center [point F, Beijing Map]. She has remained in detention since the couple’s arrest. In April, her family was notified that she was to be charged with “using a heretical organization to undermine implementation of the law,” a vague provision of the penal code commonly used to sentence Falun Gong adherents to prison terms of up to 12 years.

In early May, Xu was transferred to the Chongwen District Detention Center [point A, Beijing Map], where she awaits trial at the Chongwen District Court.

Ms. Xu had already been jailed for five years. In 2001, she was sentenced to five years in prison for lending her apartment to Falun Gong adherents from other regions who had traveled to Beijing in order to petition the government to end its policy of persecution. Xu was initially held at Tuanhe Juvenile Prison, where she and Angel (Jie) Li were cellmates. After being transferred to the Beijing Women’s Prison [point H, Beijing Map], she was reportedly placed in solitary confinement, deprived of sleep, and tied up with ropes in painful positions for extended periods. She was released in late 2006 only to be arrested again a little over a year later. She is now in danger of being sentenced to a particularly long prison term, as is the norm when Falun Gong adherents are sentenced a second time.

Additional References:

• The London Times: “Yu Zhou dies as China launches pre-Olympic purge of Falun Gong,” April 20, 2008 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/china/article3779899.ece
• The Falun Dafa Information Center: “Urgent Appeal: Celebrity Musician’s Widow Faces Prison for Practicing Falun Gong,” June 17, 2008: /article/675/?cid=84