News and Events from around the World -- July 4, 2006

Issued by Clearwisdom Net

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  • UN Reports Again Document Widespread Suppression of Falun Gong in China



  • UN Reports Again Document Widespread Suppression of Falun Gong in China

     Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group recently uploaded several UN reports on human rights violation against the practice in China. The persecution of Falun Gong in China is still widespread and brutal. Selected cases documented in these report are listed below while the reports can be downloaded from http://www.falunhr.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1529&Itemid=0.

    1. Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

    13 cases concerned Falun Gong practitioners who were allegedly arrested or abducted in 2000 and 2001 by police, security services or local administrative officials. In one case, an autistic boy reportedly disappeared in 2000 after having been questioned by Hong Kong immigration officers. Another case concerned a Chinese citizen residing in the United States of America who was allegedly detained in 2002 by persons belonging to the Ministry of Public Security. In one case transmitted in 2004, a 4-year-old child was allegedly taken from her home by police officers from the Tongnan Country National Security Team in 2004. Reportedly, her parents had been persecuted for practising Falun Gong.

    Report on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (China)

    Ms. Minghua Qiu, a 54 year-old practitioner of Falun Gong, Su Yuan Xin Chun, Ren Min Nan Road, Wu Zhong District, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. On 25 November 2004, personnel from the Suzhou Public Security Bureau, Lumuzhen, Xiangcheng, arrived at her apartment and searched it from 1pm to 5pm. Computer equipment was confiscated. When she arrived at her flat around 3pm, she was arrested and taken away to No. 1 Detention Centre. She has been denied access to a lawyer and her family.

    Ms. Liu Yawen, aged 56. On 31 March 2005, she was arrested by the police when she was seen distributing Falun Gong video-CDs in Beijing, and is currently being held at the Xuanwu District Detention Centre. After she was detained, police officers searched her home for other Falun Gong materials. She is denied visits by her family and it is not known whether she has been charged with any offence.

    Report on Arbitrary Detention (China)

    According to the communication, Ms. Qiu Minghua, citizen of China, is living in Wu Zhong District, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. On 25 November 2004, at about 1 p.m., officers of the Suzhou police station entered the apartment of Ms. Qiu and her husband. Ms. Qiu was away from home at the time. In the presence of Ms. Qiu's husband, they searched the apartment until approximately 5 p.m. and seized several items, among them a computer, a printer, toner cartridges, mobile phones, telephone directories and an address book. Between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. of the same day Ms. Qiu returned to the apartment. The police detained Ms. Qiu and took her to Detention House No. 1 of the Suzhou Public Security Bureau, located in Lumuzhen, Xiangcheng District of Suzhou, where she remains in detention. Police authorities informed Ms. Qiu that her detention was in connection with her affiliation with Falun Gong. However, they did not present an arrest warrant, detention order, or any other written document justifying the detention.

    Report on Violence against Woman (China)

    Letter of allegation

    34. On 13 September 2005, the Special Rapporteur, jointly with the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, sent a letter of allegation concerning Ms. RS, 42, (f), living in the Tiexi District, Shengyang City, Liaoning Province, and Ms. LY, 32 (f), living in Yangjiazhuang village in Junbukou Township. According to information received, on 21 May 2002, police officers from the Zhonggong police station arrested RS for practicing Falun Gong. She was later sentenced to three years of forced labour and was detained at the Longshan Labour Camp. No charges were brought against her and she was provided no hearing before a court of law. She went on hunger strike for 64 days, during which time she was subjected to torture and harsh labour for fifteen hours daily. After bringing an end to her hunger strike she continued to be tortured by the prison guards, who subjected her to electric shocks. On 22 March 2004, she was transferred to Masanjia Labour Camp where she was forced to sleep on cement floors for three months. She was released on 24 December 2004, due to her extremely weak conditions, weighing less than 40 kg, whereas at the time of her arrest she weighed 80 kg. The several complaints that RS made to the prison guards, who were the only authorities she had access to, provided no response or amelioration to her conditions of detention.

    Moreover, on 21 January 2000, Ms. LY was arrested by police officers belonging to the Junbukou Township of Weifang City in Shandong province, for practicing Falun Gong. No charges were brought against her and she was provided no hearing before a court of law. She was subjected to severe beatings, and the men who were also arrested with her were forced to beat her and the other arrested women on their hips. During her detention, she was forced to curse the founder of Falun Gong, drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes, which is against Falun Gong principles. As a result of this treatment, Ms. LY miscarried. She was released on 20 January 2000 after having paid for her release. In the Summer of 2001, she was arrested again for practicing Falun Gong and was once again subjected to torture including electric shocks, as a result of which she miscarried a second time. After twenty days of torture, she was sent to a detention centre for another month, after which she was released

    Report on the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression (China)

    142. On 8 January 2004, the Special Rapporteur, jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, sent an urgent appeal concerning Cui Suzhen, a 61-year-old female resident of Shenze County, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, who was reportedly detained in the Shijiazhuang Labour Camp because she practised Falun Gong. On 8 April 2001, she was reportedly transferred to the Gaoyang Labor Camp in Hebei Province. It is alleged that, since she went on a hunger strike to protest the treatment received, she was force-fed human excrement on three separate occasions, and afterwards suffered from serious diarrhea. As a result, she was reportedly sent to the Gaoyang County Hospital for emergency treatment. The attending doctor allegedly pointed out that feeding a person human excrement in that quantity can cause death. Upon being sent back to the labour camp, she was allegedly continuously beaten by the guards, who are said to have crushed her nipples, shocked her with electric batons simultaneously while pouring water on to her. They also used pliers to pinch her flesh, and buried her in snow until she passed out. At the time that this communication was sent, it was reported that she was still being detained in the labour camp, where she was believed to be at risk of being subjected to similar treatment.