MOTHER AND DAUGHTER AT RISK OF TORTURE
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
UA: 208/12 Index: ASA 17/024/2012 China Date: 16 July 2012
URGENT ACTION
mother and daughter AT RISK of torture
Falun Gong practitioner Wang Xiuqing, and her daughter Qin Hailong, have been detained without trial in Qiangjing Re-education through Labour (RTL) camp, Shandong Province, China. They are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment, particularly due to the authorities’ anger at the recent petition in support for their case within China.
Following a recent petitioning movement which has so far gathered at least 15,000 signatures, Wang Xiuqing and her daughter Qin Hailong who were assigned to 18 months Re-education through Labour last November, are at increased risk of torture and ill-treatment. The petition seeks justice for the death of Wang Xiuqing’s husband and Qin Hailong’s father, Qin Yueming, in Jiamusi prison in February 2011, and calls for their release from detention. Qin Yueming was detained for being a Falun Gong practitioner. Wang Xiuqing and Qin Hailong were assigned to RTL as a result of seeking legal redress for his death.
Qin Yueming’s family, who travelled to the prison the day after his death, reported that they found his body covered with bruises and there was blood coming out of his nose. His cell-mates and other witnesses allege he died after being force-fed milk. Prison authorities recorded the cause of death as a heart attack. Wang Xiuqing and her two daughters, Qin Hailong and Qin Rongqian, began legal efforts to seek justice including compensation and an official investigation by the authorities into the circumstances of his death. During a visit to the RTL camp, Qin Rongqian was denied access to her mother and sister, and was detained overnight several times and tortured, including being tied to an iron chair and having her limbs stretched, for continuing to press the case for her family.
When lawyers from Beijing came to assist in the family’s legal actions, the prison and local government authorities told them that as Falun Gong practitioners the family are ineligible to have legal counsel. Because the family’s efforts to seek redress through legal channels have been thwarted, Qin Rongqian started a public petition to China’s leaders which seeks redress for her father’s death as well as the release of her mother and sister.
Please write immediately in Chinese or your own language urging the Chinese authorities to:
Immediately release Wang Xiuqing and Qin Hailong, as they are prisoners of conscience detained solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and freedom of expression.
Guarantee that as long as they are in custody. Wang Xiuqing and Qin Hailong are not tortured or otherwise ill-treated and have immediate, and thereafter frequent and regular access to their family and family-appointed lawyers as well as to a court where they can challenge their detention.
Respond positively to the family’s demand for an investigation into and for compensation for Qin Yueming’s death, and ensure that the family and their chosen lawyers are able to proceed with their legal case.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 27 AUGUST 2012 TO:
President
Hu Jintao
The State Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie, Xichengqu,
Beijingshi 100017
People’s Republic of China
Fax: +86-10- 6309-8375
Email: gov@govonline.cn
Salutation: Dear President
Governor
Wang Xiankai,
Heilongjiangsheng renminzhengfu
202 Zhongshanlu, Nangangqu
Haerbinshi Heilongjiangsheng
People’s Republic of China 150001
Fax: +86-451-8262-7592
Email: zzjd@hlj.gov.cn
Salutation: Dear Governor
And copies to:
Justice Bureau Director
Li Jichun Tingzhang
433 Hongqidajie, Nangangqu
Heilongjiangsheng sifating
People’s Republic of China 150090
Fax: +86-451-8229-7080
Email: hljsfweb@sina.com
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION
mother and daughter AT RISK of torture
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Falun Gong is a spiritual movement which gained large numbers of supporters in China during the 1990s. After it staged a peaceful gathering in Tiananmen Square in July 1999, the government outlawed the group and launched a long-term campaign of intimidation and persecution. Practitioners have been held in psychiatric hospitals, re-education through labour (RTL) facilities (a form of administrative detention imposed without charge, trial or judicial review), sentenced to long prison terms, and been held in specialized detention centres whose mission is to “transform” Falun Gong practitioners via coercion into renouncing their spiritual beliefs, often through the use of torture and ill-treatment. Torture and other ill-treatment are routine in all forms of detention, despite China’s ratification of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 1988. Falun Gong sources have documented numerous deaths in custody of their practitioners, believed to have been caused by torture and other ill-treatment.
Name: Wang Xiuqing (f), Qin Hailong (f), Qin Rongqian (f) Qin Yueming (m)
Gender m/f: Both
UA: 208/12 Index: ASA 17/024/2012 Issue Date: 16 July 2012