FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS AT RISK OF TORTURE

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

URGENT ACTION

FALUN GONG practitioners at risk of torture

Six Falun Gong practitioners are being held in Jiamusi Detention Centre in China after being arbitrarily detained on 10 September. They are at risk of torture and ill-treatment.

Shortly after 7.00 pm on 10 September, plain-clothed police officers arrested Zhang Shuhua and Zhang Shuying as they left Zhang Shuhua’s home in the Xiangyang District of Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, China. Later that evening, a large number of police and security forces – estimated at more than 20 – forcibly entered Zhang Shuhua’s home where a group of Falun Gong practitioners were meeting for religious study. Zhao Juan, Cui Xiuyun, Sun Ying, Liu Lijie, Xiang Xiaobo, Wang Shumei, and Zhang Shuhua’s son were taken into custody and Zhang Shuhua’s belongings were ransacked. Her computer, printer, DVDs, and Falun Gong literature were confiscated. No detention or arrest warrants were presented by the police.

Of the nine people detained, three were either released or escaped police custody – including Zhang Shuhua’s son who was released after writing a “guarantee” that he is not a Falun Gong practitioner, and Wang Shumei who was released from hospital after falling ill, and Sun Ying who was released due to her advanced age, being over 70 years old. On 11 September, the remaining six were transferred to the Jiamusi Detention Centre after being held in various police stations around the city. Most of those detained have previously spent many years in prison or re-education through labour camps as a result of their beliefs. Zhang Shuying was previously incarcerated in re-education through labour camps three times, and Liu Lijie was also previously detained three times.

Please write immediately in Chinese or your own language:

Calling on the Chinese authorities to release all those being held in custody (naming them), as they are detained solely on the basis of exercising their freedom of belief;
Ensuring that all those detained are not tortured or otherwise ill-treated while they are in custody.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 29 OCTOBER 2012 TO:

Gonganju juzhang
Jiang Zhifang
Baoweilu 100 hao, Jiamusishi.
Heilongjiangsheng,
People’s Republic of China 154000
Tel: +86-454-8298114 (Chinese only)
Salutation: Dear Bureau Chief

Zhengfawei Shuji
Liu Chen
Chang’anlu, Xiduan 2666 hao
Jiamusishi, Heilongjiangsheng
People’s Republic of China 154000
Tel: +86-454-8224598 (Chinese only)
Salutation: Dear Party Secretary

And copies to:

Governor
Wang Xiangui
202 Zhongshanlun 202,
Harbin, People’s Republic of China
Tel: +86-451-82622351, +86-451-82625015 (Chinese only)
Email: webmaster@hlj.gov.cn
Salutation: Dear Governor

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

FALUN GONG practitioners at risk of torture

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Falun Gong is a spiritual movement, which gained large numbers of supporters in China during the 1990s. After the movement staged a peaceful gathering in Tiananmen Square in July 1999, the government outlawed the group and launched a long-term campaign of persecution. Individuals are imprisoned for their spiritual beliefs and for exercising their rights to freedom of expression by distributing materials about the group. They are sentenced to long prison terms, held in psychiatric hospitals, re-education through labour facilities (a form of administrative detention imposed without charge, trial or judicial review), and 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 is common 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. Amnesty International has documented numerous deaths in custody, believed to have been caused by torture and other ill-treatment, and torture and ill-treatment leading to permanent disability, including of Falun Gong practitioners.

Name: Zhang Shuhua (f), Zhang Shuying (f), Zhao Juan (f), Cui Xiuyun (f), Sun Ying (f), Liu Lijie (f), Xiang Xiaobo (f), Wang Shumei (f)

Gender m/f: Both

UA: 266/12 Index: ASA 17/034/2012 Issue Date: 17 September 2012

Original article