Name: Dai Meilan (戴美兰)
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Address: Changpai Village, Shenzhen City
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 20, 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Luohu Detention Center (罗湖看守所)
City: Shenzhen
Province: Guangdong
Persecution Suffered: Home ransacked, detention, illegal sentencing
(Clearwisdom.net) Officers from the Dongxiao Police Station in the Luohu District of Shenzhen City arrested Ms. Dai Meilan from Changpai Village on May 20, 2011. Without showing any documentation, the police ransacked her home and took her personal belongings. They took her to the Luohu Detention Center. Ms. Dai was recently illegally sentenced to three years of imprisonment.
When Ms. Dai's family went to the Luohu Police Department to file a complaint, the officer on duty claimed, “The police chief doesn't work here. It's none of our business. Go to the Petition Office.”
The officer at the Petition Office said, “We have never handled Falun Gong issues.”
After Ms. Dai was given a prison term, officers at the Luohu Police Department said, “We don't have the authority to handle it now. Only the court has the power. Go to the court.”
The officer at the court said, “An appeal will be allowed within ten days after the verdict was made. It will be invalid after ten days.”
Some police officers quietly told the family, “Falun Gong isn't a criminal case, the appeal will be valid at any time.”
When her family asked officers in the Dongxiao Police Station why they had arrested her, they answered, “Don't you go on the Internet? Baidu Net said long ago that promoting Falun Gong is against the law.” Ms. Dai's relative said, “I have some knowledge of the law, and I know that only the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee have legislative power, that only decisions made by the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee are legal, and TV and Baidu Net don't have the power to legislate. What they say is not the law.” The police were embarrassed and said, “We are not quite clear about this—we don't know what to say.”
