The Latest Development of the Revocation of My Mother's Passport 我母親護照被毀一事最新進展
After my mother was stopped at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport on her way to come to the United States to visit me on October 1, I have written an open letter to President Trump and another one to Vice President Pence. Here are some updates regarding my mother’s passport issue:
關於我母親2018年10月1日在上海浦東國際機場海關護照被毀一事(報導請見:http://www.ntdtv.com/xtr/b5/2018/10/09/a1394583.html),最新進展如下:
After crying for many days at home, my mother finally summoned up her courage to contact the staff from the National Security Department to make inquiries. During the past 17 plus years, officials from this department have been constantly giving pressure to my mother in an attempt to silence me. So my mother “naturally” thought about them as representatives of the state power when she wanted to make inquiries.
我母親在家哭了許多天後,鼓起勇氣聯繫經常造訪她的國安人員。
However, staff from the National Security Department said that this affair had nothing to do with them, and suggested that my mother contact the passport issuing authority, which is the Exit & Entry Administration Ministry of Public Security. They added that if the authority can issue her a passport, it also has the right to take it back.
國安人員說,這事不是他們幹的,與他們無關,建議我母親找發放護照的單位,並說,有權發給你護照的部門,當然也有權取消你的護照。
So my mother went to the Exit & Entry Administration Department of the Public Security Bureau of Mianyang City. The staff there pushed her around amongst different departments. She had to go there three times before she was offered this explanation:
The decision to revoke her passport was made by “relevant department”, and properly signed by some “relevant authority”, but not by the Exit & Entry Administration Department of Mianyang City. The Exit & Entry Administration Department was only carrying out the task that it was given to. And they said that my mother’s passport was revoked as early as September last year.
我母親於是到四川綿陽市出入境管理局——發放護照的單位——詢問護照被毀原因,工作人員將她在不同部門之間推來推去,她先後去了三次,才得到答覆說,護照是去年9月就被取消了,取消護照是按照「有關部門」的指示執行的,「有關領導」有簽字畫押,不是由綿陽市出入境管理局決定的,綿陽市出入境管理局只是依指令行事。
My mother asked who is the “relevant authority”, and what is the “relevant department”. But no answer was given. They told her to wait, and somebody would contact her on Monday.
我母親詢問這個「有關單位」和「有關領導」是誰,那人說讓她回去等著,星期一有人會找她。
Today is Monday (November 5). Two police officers from the local police station went to my mother’s home. One of them could be the director, or the vice director of the station, with the surname Ren. They said that they went there to learn what had happened, but didn’t offer any answer to my mother’s questions.
On the contrary, they asked my mother, “What do you think could be the reason?” They also said that there are tons of reasons why a person’s passport can be revoked.
今天(11月5日),我母親戶口所在地,綿陽城鄉派出所的兩名警察(其中一位姓任,據說是所長或副所長)到我母親家,說是來了解情況。他們並沒有說是誰取消了我母親的護照、爲何要取消我母親的護照,還反問我母親說,把她自己猜測,會是什麼原因?然後還說,有許多種情況都有可能導致護照被取消。
My mother asked them out of those “tons of reasons”, under which one was her passport revoked? My mother also asked them why they didn’t notify her that her passport had been revoked? If she had known early, she wouldn’t be wasting so much money to book a return ticket to the United States, and to spend so much effort to try to come.
我母親說,那「許多情況」中,我的情況屬於哪一種?爲何去年取消了護照不告訴我,害得我購買去美國的來回機票,千里奔波,最後一刻在海關被攔下,受到無窮驚嚇?
The officers admitted that my mother should have been notified, it was their oversight.
警察承認,取消了護照沒告訴我母親,是他們工作中的疏漏。
My mother went on to say that she believed her passport was revoked because I am a Falun Gong practitioner.
然後我母親說,據她自己猜測,取消她的護照,是因爲我修煉法輪功的原因。
The police then asked my mother to give them my phone number, home address in the United State, and information regarding my workplace. My mother ended up giving them my phone number and the outdated information of my workplace (because I didn’t update her).
It is lucky that I never gave my home address to my mother so that she had nothing to give to the police.
警察就問我母親要我的電話號碼、住址和工作單位。我母親給了他們我的電話,她不知道我的地址(我沒告訴過她),並說我在新唐人電視臺做編輯。其實那是她上次來(2015年)時的情況,現在我已經不在新唐人電視臺做編輯,我母親不知道,我一般不告訴她我的工作情況。
The police officers left without giving any explanation, saying that they needed to make more inquiries.
然後警察就走了,說需要回去了解情況。
They didn’t say when they would offer my mother an explanation.
不知道他們何時能給答覆。
By the way, my mother did manage to say to the police, “Even if you sentence me to death, you should tell me why.”
以上是今天最新進展。謝謝各位朋友一直以來的關注。
These are the latest development as of today. My sincere thanks for all my friends who have been always so supportive!