Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Asma Jahangir to the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights

“37. The Special Rapporteur continues to be alarmed by deaths in custody in China. Reports describe harrowing scenes in which detainees, many of whom are followers of the Falun Gong movement, die as a result of severe ill-treatment, neglect or medical attention. The cruelty and brutality of these alleged acts of torture defy description. In this connection, the Special Rapporteur wishes to reiterate her call to the Government of China, voiced in so many letters of allegations and urgent appeals, to take immediate steps to protect the lives and integrity of its detainees in accordance with the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners approved by the Economic and Social Council by its resolutions 663 C (XXIV) of 31 July 1957 and 2076 (LXII) of 13 May 1977.”

For the full report, see: http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G03/172/60/PDF/G0317260.pdf?OpenElement

During 2003, the SR had communicated the following 23 cases of Falun Gong adherents deaths due to abuse by the Chinese authorities:

Communication sent

44. On 4 June 2003, the Special Rapporteur, jointly with the Special Rapporteur on torture, sent a communication to the Government of China in connection with the following cases of Falun Gong practitionners.

45. Shu Qunhua, a 40-year-old resident of the third community of Banshan village in Suining city, Sichuan province, was reportedly arrested on 20 July 1999 and detained for two to three months. During her detention, she was allegedly subjected to severe ill-treatment. According to the information received, on 24 January 2000, the local police surrounded her apartment building. Several policemen, including the chief, reportedly rushed her fifth-floor apartment and tried to force her to turn over the Falun Gong materials she had in her possession. She allegedly threw the flyers out of the window, infuriating the police who then reportedly threw her out the window. She died instantly.

46. Yu Lixin, a woman from Dalian city, Liaoning province, was detained at the Dalian City Detention Centre because she allegedly practised Falun Gong. On 15 April 2001, she was reportedly forced to stand with her hands clasped behind her head while bending at a 90-degree angle while she was allegedly beaten, kicked and hit on the back of her neck with an electric baton. On the following day, she was taken to a room on the fifth floor, apparently to clean it. According to the information received, all the rooms in the detention centre had iron parapets enclosing the windows, except the room the one where she taken. Shortly after having been escorted to the room, she was allegedly seen falling from the window. She reportedly died as a result of the fall.

47. Li Zetao, a 24-year-old man from Shimo town, Jiangjin county, Chongqing city, Sanxia province, was reportedly sent to team No. 7 of Xishanping Labour Camp on 8 September 2000. Camp guards (whose names are known to the Special Rapporteurs) reportedly ordered other inmates to beat him in order to force him to renounce Falun Gong. On 29 May 2001, he was reportedly forced to carry human faeces to a dump site and when he was too tired to move, he was beaten with a pole and force-fed the faeces by the guards. He was also allegedly deprived of rest at night. It was alleged that guards folded a newspaper into a hat and put it on his head, tied his arms to a stick to form a straight line, hung a barrel full of urine on each of his arms and forced him to hold up the barrels for hours. At the same time, they allegedly poked him with a broom in the back. He was also reportedly punched and kicked and a knife was allegedly inserted in his anus. He was allegedly tortured to death on 30 May 2001.

48. Li Changjun, a 33-year-old Falun Gong practitioner, was reportedly detained on 16 May 2001 for downloading and printing related information from the Internet. Mr. Li had worked at the Wuhan Tax Bureau but was said to have lost his job for refusing to renounce his Falun Gong beliefs. He was reportedly detained many times previously for his Falun Gong activities. According to the information received, on 27 June 2001, the Wuhan police notified his family of his death. It is reported that when he died, his body was skeletal, his face and neck were black and blue, his fists were clenched, his face was distorted and his back looked as if it had been severely burned.

49. Zhao Zichu, a 51-year-old resident of Longping township, Wuxue city, was reportedly arrested by local police and sent to the Wuxue City No. 1 Detention Centre for having studied and practised Falun Gong. According to the information received, he was released in July 2001, when police saw him spitting up blood. He reportedly died shortly afterwards.

50. Chen Qiulan, a 47-year-old female Falun Gong practitioner, reportedly died in custody on 24 August 2001 at the Daqing City Detention Centre, Heilongjiang province. Although her death was publicly announced by the police to have been due to a heart attack, other sources allegedly reported that she died from having been severely beaten many times while in detention and denied medical treatment. She was allegedly arrested in July 2001 for posting information about Falun Gong on the Internet.

51. Shen Deming, a man from Xiantao city, Hubei province, was reportedly arrested while distributing Falun Dafa materials in Shenzhen city, where he was working temporarily. He was allegedly detained for six months in the Jiujiechun Detention Centre. It was reported that due to the severity of the ill-treatment he was subjected to, he suffered a mental breakdown and his health deteriorated. He reportedly died on 8 September 2002.

52. Li Hongmin, a 50-year-old female Falun Gong practitioner from Mudanjiang city, Heilongjiang province, was reportedly arrested by city police on the morning of 16 September 2002 and was allegedly beaten to death. It was reported that the police dropped her corpse from a building and then claimed that she committed. Her body was allegedly cremated on 19 September 2002. The police department allegedly threatened her family members not to make the case public.

53. Wang Jingyi, a 56-year-old man from Dong-xi-zhen-li village in Zhao township, Wafangdian city, Liaoning province, was reportedly arrested by police in February 2002 for producing Falun Fong materials. He was allegedly taken to Wafangdian City Detention Centre and in September 2002, he was sentenced to a five-year jail term. On 21 September 2002, 18 days after he was transferred to Huazi jail in Liaoyang city, Liaoning province, he was reportedly tortured to death. The details of his death were reportedly still under investigation at the time of the communication.

54. Wei Ouyang, a 32-year-old resident of Lanzhou city, was reportedly detained by three police officers from the Lanzhou city, Anling district police station National Security Squad on 16 October 2002 and sent on the following day to the Gansu province First Labour (Ping.antai) Camp to serve a one-year sentence. He allegedly died two days later. Before his death, he reportedly told his family that .criminals.. beat his head severely. It was also alleged that there were needle marks on both of his wrists where an unknown drug was allegedly injected.

55. Xiong Fengxia, a 56-year-old woman from Gucheng town, Hebei province, reportedly died on 13 October 2002 while detained at the Liyhuzhuang town detention centre. She was allegedly arrested on 1 October 2002 with some 18 other Falun Gong practitioners from Gucheng. At the detention centre, she was allegedly hung from the ceiling and beaten with rubber hoses, wooden clubs and other articles. During the night of 13 October 2002, she was allegedly force-fed until she died. Her family allegedly asked, unsuccessfully, for an autopsy report.

56. Xing Xiuqin, a 61-year-old resident of Beima village, Songlingdian town, Zhuozhou city, Hebei province, was forcibly taken away from home and sent to Songlindian police station on 15 September 2002. She was reportedly handcuffed to a tree for three days and nights and subjected to other torture that left the lower half of her body paralyzed. On 16 November 2002, the police allegedly asked her relatives to pick her up and take her home, and she died the next morning. When her family members went to the town government to find out the reason for her death, the officials reportedly refused to meet with them. It was reported that because of her Falun Gong belief and activities, she had been under constant surveillance for the previous three years, her pension had been cut off, and she had been fined and arbitrarily detained many times.

57. Huang Baochen, a 65-year-old retired worker and Falun Gong practitioner from Yushu city, Jilin province, was reportedly interrogated and arrested at his home in July 2002 by four policemen from the Yushu City Public Security Bureau. He was allegedly transferred to the Weizigou Labour Camp in Changchun city, where other inmates were reportedly ordered to beat him and where he was refused food or water for days. It was reported that on 7 November 2002, the labour camp sent him home, accompanied by two policemen and a doctor. He was said to be unable to recognize anyone and his whole body was swollen. He was taken immediately to the hospital where he died 20 days later.

58. Hu Hongyue, a 45-year-old woman from Xindu town, Xindu county, Sichuan province, an employee of the Xindu County Oil Pump Factory and a Falun Gong practitioner, reportedly died in police custody on 15 November 2002. She had reportedly disappeared on 28 September 2002 along with another Falun Gong practitioner near Funanhe river in Chengdu city. In November 2002, her work unit allegedly received a notice from the Public Security saying that she had died. The policemen reportedly showed a picture of her body to her family and told them that she had .died from starvation.. On 19 November 2002, her body was allegedly cremated by the police without the consent of her family. The details of her death were reportedly still under investigation at the time of the communication.

59. Shi Hongjie, a resident of Wubei town, Laixi city, Shandong province, was reportedly beaten to death by policemen on 28 November 2002, when some Falun Gong materials were allegedly found at his home.

60. Jiang Rongzhen, a 42-year-old female employee of the Cooking Element Emporium, Coal Engine Factory, Jixi city and a Falun Gong practitioner, was reportedly tortured to death on 20 November 2002 in the Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Centre. The Centre allegedly claimed that she died of a heart attack. However, her body was reportedly covered with wounds and marks left by electric shocks. There were allegedly also holes on her forehead and back.

61. Luo Zhixiang, an engineer for the Guangdong Province Farming Construction Company and a Falun Gong practitioner, was reportedly forced to leave her home in 2000 because of continuous persecution by local police. On 29 November 2002, she and her husband, Huang Guohua, also a Falun Gong practitioner, were reportedly arrested in Haizhu district of Guangzhou city by .610 Office. policemen. They were allegedly detained in the Haizhu district detention centre and subjected to severe ill-treatment. Ms. Luo reportedly protested the torture by going on hunger strike and her health deteriorated. She was allegedly sent to hospital on 4 December 2002 where she reportedly died on the same day by falling from a building. The details of her death were still under investigation at the time of the communication.

62. Wang Fengwei, a 40-year-old female employee of the Drinking Water Company of Shen county, Liao city, Shangdong province, was reportedly fired because she was a Falun Gong practitioner. In July 1999, she was reportedly arrested on eight separate occasions in connection with her beliefs. On 14 January 2002 she was allegedly arrested by police from Yanggu county, Shandong province, and severely beaten before being sent to the Shen County detention centre where she was reportedly repeatedly beaten, as a result of which she allegedly died in November 2002.

63. Ms. Hou, a 40-year-old woman, was reportedly tortured to death at the Ping’antai Labour Camp in Gansu province on 29 November 2002. Her ribs and pelvis were allegedly severely fractured and she suffered from severe haemorrhaging. Shortly after her death, the police reportedly sent her body to be cremated.

64. He Huajiang was reportedly taken from his workplace by policemen from the Qingxin police substation of Ranghulu district in Daqing city on 16 September 2002. On 23 December 2002, he was allegedly sent to the Daqing Labour Camp, where he was reportedly tortured to death. According to reports, there were strangulation marks around his throat and other signs of torture. Mr. He.s body was allegedly taken to a different location for cremation.

65. Meng Guiying, a 39-year-old woman from Manzhouli city, Inner Mongolia, reportedly died on 24 January 2003 from injuries sustained during force-feeding while in detention. She was allegedly arrested in June 2002 by police officers from the Manzhouli city police department and detained in a city detention centre for more than seven months, during which she was reportedly beaten and abused by police. A few days after she begun a hunger strike, she was allegedly force-fed. She was reportedly released on 20 January 2003, and family immediately took her to the Manzhouli city hospital where she reportedly died.

66. Liu Jie, a 37-year-old employee of the Shuangcheng City Beer Factory in Heilongjiang province and a Falun Gong practitioner, was reportedly tortured to death during the Chinese Spring Festival in 2003, for peacefully distributing greeting cards with the Chinese characters for .Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance. on them. She was allegedly arrested on 6 February 2003 and taken to the Second Detention Centre in Shuangcheng city. On 17 February 2003, her family was reportedly informed of her death.

67. Lan Hu, a 31-year-old man from Jujiang city, Liangxi province, reportedly died on 9 February 2003 at Nanchang city prison. He was allegedly arrested in January 2002 and detained in Jiujiang city detention centre for nearly a year. He was reportedly sentenced in December 2002 to 11 years. detention to be served at Nanchang city prison, where he was reportedly forced to work for up to 15 hours a day. On 9 February 2003 his family was allegedly informed of his death and went to the prison, where they reportedly found his body emaciated.

For the full report see: http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G04/122/75/PDF/G0412275.pdf?OpenElement