A woman who had often gone to Beijing to appeal to higher authorities for help was taken by police back to her hometown for one year of reeducation at a labor camp after she visited her son in the capital earlier this month.

Zhao Meifu went to visit her son, Guo Dajun, who is doing postgraduate studies at the Beijing Institute of Technology, according to the Beijing Youth Daily.

The woman left her home in a village in Lanzhou City in western Gansu Province on November 5. In Beijing, she stayed in a hotel near her son's school. Zhao left Beijing for home on November 8.

But on November 12, Zhao's family received a notice from the local police of Zhao's labor reeducation term. Police claimed yesterday that the year was related to a punishment filed in 2010.

"Zhao was punished with one year of labor reeducation on May 14, 2010, after she had been punished several times for violating public order since 2007," local police said on Weibo.

"But when we sent her to reeducation, she was diagnosed with hypertension, hysteromyoma (a benign uterine tumor) and gallstones and the reeducation was suspended. Zhao was asked to have medical treatment at home and the reeducation was postponed until she could recover," police said. "According to our investigation this month, Zhao was found traveling to Beijing several times. After applying for permission to law enforcement department, we took Zhao back on November 12 and sent her to the labor camp," police said.

Guo, however, appealed on Weibo on Tuesday for help for his mother. The blog became a hit on the website.

Guo said his mother did nothing "out of line" in Beijing. He believed his mother was taken by police by mistake.

"My mother was waiting for the train at the Beijing West Railway Station and was asked to show her ID by the police officers because she was raggedly dressed," Guo said. "After checking the ID, they found my mom's record and assumed she was going to appeal to authorities again and took her back to Lanzhou."

Guo said his father tried to visit Zhao at the labor camp but was turned away.

Guo has applied for a reexamination of his mother's case.

"I'll try everything I can to get mom out of the labor camp. In the future, we will never appeal again," Guo told the paper. "Their wounds will heal and our family can start over."

Police records say Guo's family had a land dispute with a neighbor that escalated to fights. The case was closed in 2005, but Zhao refused to accept it.

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