Imprisoned journalist’s letter details the torture, beatings, and hard labor

(Chinese Human Rights Defenders- December 9, 2009) CHRD has obtained copies of letters written by imprisoned journalist Qi Chonghuai (齐崇淮) which detail the torture, beatings, and hard labor to which he has been subjected over the past two and half years. A person familiar with Qi’s handwriting has verified the letters to be authentic.

“The physical abuses to which Qi Chonghuai has been subjected are shocking, and clearly violate the Convention against Torture, which China has ratified,” said Renee Xia, CHRD’s International Director. “Prison guards who implicitly or explicitly condone violence between inmates must be held accountable.”

Qi’s wife Jiao Xia (焦霞) was last able to visit her husband on February 4, 2009, and his brother was barred from visiting with him in June of this year.  Qi, who was sentenced to four years in prison for “extortion and blackmail” on May 13, 2008, is currently imprisoned in Tengzhou Jinzhuang Prison.

According to Qi’s letters, he was first tortured while in pre-trial detention. During an interrogation on August 13, 2007, Qi was bound to an iron chair and beaten until he lost consciousness by a Tengzhou City policeman. During the 408 days Qi was held at the Tengzhou City Detention Center before being sentenced, he reported being beaten “nearly every day.”

On August 8, 2008, Qi was transferred to Tengzhou Prison. On the day he arrived, he was beaten by fellow inmates, suffering a broken rib. In the following year, Qi was beaten on at least six more occasions.

On April 30, 2009, a prison guard named Liu Huanyong (劉煥永) confiscated a number of Qi’s manuscripts which documented the conditions inside the Tengzhou Prison. Afterwards, that same guard dispatched an inmate, Zhai Fengqiang (翟鳳強), to “do away” with Qi.  “I was ruthlessly beaten at the bottom of a 130-meter deep mine,” Qi writes. “My entire face was mangled and bloody, and I lost consciousness. I don’t know how long I was down there.  Two fellow inmates found me and dragged me out of the mine, narrowly saving my life. If not for them, I would still be at the bottom of that mine.” He did not regain consciousness until May 6.

Qi’s letters vividly describe other harrowing details of prison life. “After I was sent to Tengzhou Prison, the kinds of maltreatment of prisoners I experienced first-hand and witnessed made my heart shiver.”  Since his sentence began, Qi has been forced to perform hard labor in coal mines run by the prison. Working over ten hours per day without adequate food, water or rest, Qi has been forced to carry very heavy rails to construct tracks for mining carts and push mining carts. According to Qi, as a result of the combination of beatings and relentless labor, his left thumb, knees and waist are permanently injured and he has difficulties walking.

The prisoners who work at the mine are provided with little or no protective gear, and many are ill with pneumoconiosis. When they are ill or injured, they are given no medical attention. According to Qi, for a prison population of 2,800, there is only one doctor. Qi witnessed the deaths of a number of fellow prisoners as a result of the harsh treatment. …… (more details from Chinese Human Rights Defenders)

Family Plea for Missing Prominent Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng

Radio Free Asia, 2009-11-26 -

HONG KONG–The family of a prominent civil rights lawyer who has been missing for more than nine months has called on the Chinese government to give them news of his whereabouts, saying that his sister had now also lost contact with the rest of the family.

Civil rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng was last seen in public in February, 2009 after reporting repeated kidnappings, detentions, surveillance and beatings at the hands of the authorities.

“Even if Gao Zhisheng had committed a terrible crime, his family would still have the right to know what had happened to him,” Gao’s brother Gao Zhiyi said in an interview.

“For every question, there are three unknowns. No-one knows anything,” he said. “They won’t talk to us and they won’t meet with us,” he said.

Gao Zhiyi added that his Shandong-based sister, who had also been under police surveillance at her home, had now stopped communicating with the rest of the family.

“His sister hasn’t called us or contacted us,” he said, adding that he had refused previous interview requests for fear that his brother would feel the repercussions.

Hong Kong Democratic legislator Albert Ho, who has led a campaign of lawyers calling for Gao’s release, said the group had written to U.S. President Barack Obama ahead of his state visit to China.

“We called on him to pay attention to our concerns about the safety of Gao Zhisheng,” Ho said.

“We are not going to let this drop. We have also written to the U.S. government asking for a reply now that Obama has left.”

Gao’s whereabouts have remained unclear for months after he was subjected to a secret trial by the authorities on unspecified subversion charges in 2006.

Lauded by China’s own Justice Ministry as one of China’s Top 10 lawyers in 2001 for his pro bono work in helping poor people sue government officials over corruption and mistreatment, Gao was once a member of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. He resigned from the Party in 2005.

Gao’s fortunes took a sharp downturn after he wrote an open letter to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao in October 2005 slamming the continuing persecution of practitioners of Falun Gong, a banned spiritual movement.

Chinese lawyers who have defended members of the Falun Gong say they are forbidden to defend their clients on the proper application of law or the nature of the incident.

According to Jiang Tianyong, a defense lawyer for Gao who has himself been prevented from practising by authorities in Beijing, the entire legal profession is under increasing strain when it comes to defending the constitutional rights of individuals. “I and other human rights attorneys in China are suffering an increasing level of harassment, suppression, and persecution [by the government], because we serve as defense counsels in cases of safeguarding the freedom of religious belief,” Jiang testified in front of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on Oct. 29.

- Radio Free Asia

Death Summons— Man Dies at Police Station in East China

By Gu Qing’er, Epoch Times,  Staff Nov 6, 2009 -

Eight police officers arrived at Jiang Ming’s home in Qindao City, Shandong Province on Sept. 15. Jiang, 38 years old and healthy, was summoned to the Badaguan Police Station to sign documents related to an incident from 2006 that had never been closed. Two hours later he was dead, leaving behind a young wife, a 9-year-old son, and elderly parents with illnesses.

Jiang’s wife, Gao Lianqiao, had asked to accompany him to the police station but was not allowed. Worried, she went to the station about an hour after he was taken.

“I found my husband tied with iron rods to an interrogation chair with his head hanging down. I called his name, but he did not respond. He was drooling and appeared to be having a convulsion.

“I asked the police why he was still handcuffed. I wanted them to hurry and take him to a hospital, but they said they would have to wait until after their lunch break to get permission for hospitalization from the Municipal Public Security Bureau. My husband was dying! I was crying very loudly,” Gao said.

Deputy director of the police station Chen Wei responded to Gao by pounding the table and yelling, “I’ll be responsible if he dies,” Gao recounted. She said Chen only agreed to send Jiang to a hospital after Jiang’s older brother and sister-in-law arrived and began calling higher authorities with their cell phones.

But Jiang was not carried to the police car. Instead, police grabbed his arms and dragged him to the car. As the family watched in horror, he stopped breathing and died. Family members said blood was coming out from his ears and liquid from his nose. There were bruises all over his body.

Though there were hospitals in the vicinity, he was taken to a hospital far away where little was done to resuscitate him, according to Gao.

Suspecting he was tortured to death, Jiang’s family has been appealing to various government departments. All the local public security departments, administrative departments, and courts have refused to become involved, and no suspects have been arrested.

“Our son is only 9 years old. He was doing very well at school, but now he doesn’t talk much and cries whenever someone mentions his father’ s death. My mother-in-law suffers from heart disease and cries all day. My father-in-law is diabetic. The whole family is now in chaos,” Gao said……. (more details from The Epochtimes)

Three Lawyers Detained for Defending Falun Gong Practitioners in China

(Chinese Human Rights Defenders- July 15, 2009)  CHRD learned today that three lawyers in different locations in Northeastern China have been detained in recent weeks by local authorities. The three, Liu Ruiping (刘如平), Wang Yonghang (王永航), and Wang Ping (王平), who have previously been harassed because of their work defending Falun Gong practitioners, were seized between July 2 and July 8 in Shandong and Liaoning Provinces.

“As these detentions come on the heels of efforts to punish human rights lawyers around the country by denying them renewal of their lawyers’ licenses, we are concerned that these actions may mark the further deterioration of the situation of human rights lawyers in China,” said Renee Xia, CHRD’s International Director.

On July 2, Liu Ruping (刘如平), a lawyer from Changqing District, Jinan City, Shandong Province’s Shuntian Law Firm (舜天律师事务所) who has represented many Falun Gong practitioners, was kidnapped outside of his apartment block by officers from the Public Security Bureaus (PSB) of Jinan City and Changqing District as well as officials from the Jinan City Party Committee. Liu’s home was also searched. On July 6, Liu’s relatives went to the office of the Changqing District Party Committee demanding to know Liu’s whereabouts. However, officials declined to divulge any details. Liu’s family has not received any official documents regarding his detention or the search of his home. It is believed that he is currently held at a black jail specialized in detaining Falun Gong practitioners and petitioners in Liuchangshan, Jinan City.

On July 4, about twenty plainclothes policemen from the National Security Unit, Shahekou Sub-division and Jinxiu Police Station of the Dalian City PSB barged into the home of Wang Yonghang (王永航), a lawyer from Dalian City, Liaoning Province. Without presenting any legal documents, the policemen searched Wang’s home, held Wang’s wife down to the floor and restrained Wang’s 80-year-old mother. The policemen briefly waved some form of legal document in front of Wang’s wife, asking her to sign it, but she refused.

Wang and his wife were both taken away; his wife was released the next day.  When she went to the police station on July 6, police presented a criminal detention warrant stating that her husband had been detained in accordance with Article 300 of the Criminal Code. Article 300 stipulates the crime of “forming or using superstitious sects or secret societies or weird religious organizations or using superstition to undermine the implementation of the laws and administrative rules and regulations of the State”, and is regularly used against Falun Gong practitioners. Wang is believed to be held in Dalian City PSB Detention Center.

On July 8, Wang Ping (王平), a lawyer from Tianzhengping Law Firm (天正平律师事务所), Pingdu City, Shandong Province was also reportedly kidnapped by the local police. Details about Wang’s apprehension are currently unclear. Reportedly, Wang was also held for representing Falun Gong practitioners in Shandong Province.

Background

Liu Ruping has been practicing law since 1993, and has been a member of the Shuntian Law Firm since 2003…… (more details from Chinese Human Rights Defenders)

China: Retired Dissident Professor Beaten to Ribs Broken

Human Rights in China, April 06, 2009-

On April 4, 2009, Sun Wenguang (孙文广), 75, retired professor of Shandong University, was brutally beaten by five unidentified men as he returned from paying respects to memory of the late Zhao Ziyang, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China who visited students on Tiananmen Square during the 1989 democracy movement, and of Zhang Zhixin, a dissident killed during the Cultural Revolution.

In the early morning of Qing Ming, the traditional day of remembering and honoring the dead, Sun defied university authorities to make the trip to Yingxiong Mountain (英雄山) in Jinan, Shandong Province. The police sent nine vehicles to follow Sun’s taxi. He was attacked at around 10:00 a.m. The attackers threw him down a two-meter drop and then beat him for over ten minutes, breaking three of his ribs. He was brought to Jinan’s Qilu Hospital (齐鲁医院). At present he is unable to turn his head but is conscious and reportedly in stable condition.

Between 1966 and 1981, Sun Wenguang was detained and imprisoned multiple times for a total of more than ten years for expressing his opinions on political issues. In the days leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Sun was put under 24-hour surveillance. Unidentified persons scrawled “Traitor, Rapist” on the walls of his home, and his home was searched by state security police, who seized two computers, manuscripts, and books published in Hong Kong. In March 2009, Sun sued Shandong University for deducting from his pension after Sun refused to sell his house at the price the university offered, which he claimed was only one-tenth of its market value. The case has not yet reached a resolution.

“Human Rights in China condemns the violence against Sun Wenguang,” said Sharon Hom, executive director of HRIC. “This deplorable act, committed in broad daylight and clear view of the police, against a man for remembering a former Party secretary on Qing Ming, calls into serious question officials’ professed commitment to building a society that puts people first.” HRIC urges the authorities to undertake a thorough investigation of the crime and bring those responsible to justice.

- Human Rights in China

New death from bird flu in China

BBC News, Jan 19, 2008-

A Chinese woman has died from bird flu in the eastern Shandong province, state media has said.

It says Ms Zhang, aged 27, died at the weekend after becoming infected with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

It is the second reported death from bird flu in China this year. Two weeks ago, a 19-year-old woman died in Beijing after handling ducks.

The latest death was announced the day after the infection of a two-year old with bird flu in Hunan was reported.

The three new cases are the first to be reported in China in almost a year.

The toddler is now in hospital in her home province of Shanxi and all those who had been in contact with her are being watched.

The toll from bird flu in China is now reported by state media as 22 since 2003.

China’s ministry of agriculture said on Sunday that no bird flu epidemics were detected in Shanxi and Henan provinces after the two-year-old’s infection was confirmed.

Grim threat

The ministry said China now faces “a grim situation” in bird flu prevention, threatened by frequent outbreaks in neighbouring countries, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.

Other threats came from brisk poultry trade ahead of the Spring Festival and difficulties in taking prevention measures at loosely managed household farms, it said.

Bird flu often resurges in the winter months in China, but not every case is fatal.

China has the world’s biggest poultry population and is seen as critical in the fight to contain H5N1, which resurfaced in Asia in 2003, killing at least 247 people.

H5N1 does not transmit easily to humans but experts fear it could mutate and cause a worldwide pandemic.

- BBC News

(video) China Mental Hospital Horror: elderly patient beaten to death

By Jin Xin, Epoch Times Staff, Jan 12, 2009 -

Video footage revealing shocking abuse in a Chinese mental hospital has been circulating among Chinese bloggers recently.

The video footage shows three hospital staff workers in white lab coats kicking and beating an elderly patient with a mop and tying her to a bed. Staff are also shown making her sit naked from the waist down on top of a plastic cloth during winter.

The footage was posted by Zhu Chuanming, who claimed that nurses in Shandong Province’s Laiwu Mental Hospital abused his mother, Wang Xiuying. She died eight days after she was admitted to the hospital. The source of the footage is from a news report from Shandong Province’s Qilu TV station on Dec. 30, 2008.

Sparking great anger among Chinese bloggers, the footage also drew attention from overseas Falun Gong practitioners. Zhang Zhaojing, a representative of the Toronto Falun Dafa Association in Canada said that they were very concerned about this incident. The video is evidence of what Falun Gong practitioners have stated for the past nine-plus years—that the Chinese Communist regime has widely put Falun Gong practitioners in mental hospitals and used torture to force them to denounce their belief.

Mr. Zhang said that on the Minghui Web site there were 5,259 cases of persecution of Falun Gong practitioners that were linked to mental hospitals. Among the 3,231 death cases, 68 deaths were linked to detention in mental hospitals. In addition, several hundred Falun Gong practitioners also reported that they were subjected to the same kind of beating Wang Xiuying suffered in the mental hospital.

Mr. Zhang believes this video footage has revealed to the world the big dark secret of the Chinese Communist regime using mental hospitals to commit human rights violations against Chinese people on a large scale……. (more details from The Epochtimes)

Why Foreign Businesses Flee China

The Chosun Ilbo, S. Korea, Dec.23,2008 -

The Chinese government recently announced its intention to sue foreign businesses for leaving the country without permission. Chinese officials said they plan to seek legal assistance in the countries of foreign businesses to receive back-pay and debt owed in China — and even seek the extradition of law-breakers.

Some Chinese media have reported that such “abnormal” exits from China mostly involve small- and mid-sized Korean businesses. But this problem does not involve only Korean businesses. Recently, Guangdong Province formed a special taskforce to supervise companies that owe money to workers and dispatched the team to Dongguan city. Hong Kong and Taiwanese businesses are based there. During September and October of this year, 117 businesses fled from Dongguan, according to Hong Kong media.

It is true that many small- and mid-sized Korean businesses secretly shutter their plants and escape China. In Qingdao, where Korean businesses are clustered, around 200 out of 8,000 companies are said to have fled China without permission. We cannot back these companies. It appears that China has come out with these hard-line measures to deal with such businesses, since it is faced with an increasing number of discontented workers as its economic slowdown intensifies and more factories close.

But it is difficult to criticize businesses that flee. When attracting foreign businesses, China offers a “one-stop” service, whereby one government department handles procedures. But when a foreign company tries to leave China, company officials must visit individual government branches handling labor, tax, customs, foreign exchange, social security, real estate and other measures and undergo procedures at each of those offices. Chinese authorities do not have much experience handling corporate liquidation, meaning a lack of consistency in interpreting regulations. As a result, it may take anywhere from eight months to two years to complete a liquidation process.

Moreover, when word spreads that a foreign business is trying to close down operations in China, workers and suppliers storm into the main offices and threaten staff. Business people say some are lucky to get out alive. Proper liquidation procedures will not be undertaken while the rule of law is not observed in China.

- The Chosun Ilbo

China city checks petitions into mental hospital

Reuters, Dec. 8, 2008-

BEIJING (Reuters) – Authorities in eastern China have found a creative way to deal with residents with complaints — checking them into a mental hospital and force-feeding them drugs, local media reported on Monday, citing victims.

Authorities in Xintai, a municipal region in eastern Shandong province, had forced at least 18 people with grievances, ranging from police brutality to property disputes, into a local mental hospital, the Beijing News said.

Chinese residents with complaints directed at local governments often travel to “petitions and appeals” offices (also called “letters and visits” offices) in provincial capitals and in Beijing after failing to get redress through lower channels.

Local governments, fearing embarrassment, often send police and other officials to intercept them and forcefully take them back to their home villages.

Sun Fawu, a 57-year-old retired miner from Dagouqiao village in Xintai, was force-fed drugs and injections during a more than 20-day stay at the Xintai Mental Health Hospital in October, the paper said.

“My head was always dizzy and I could not stay up,” the paper quoted Sun as saying. He had campaigned for years to get compensation for spoiled farm land and housing stemming from coal mining near his village.

Sun was released only after he signed a document saying he was mentally ill and “would not petition again,” the paper said……. (more details from Reuters)

(phots) China Police Rob Forced Demolition Victim’s Corpse From Family at Hospital

By Gu Xiaohua, Epoch Times Staff, Nov 28, 2008 -

Crime scene, when police tried to take remove the victim’s body. (The Epoch Times)

To cover-up a death caused by a forced demolition, police went to extremes to abscond with the victim’s corpse from the family in the hospital’s parking lot in eastern China’s Yantai City, Shandong Province. Currently, relatives do not know the whereabouts of the victim’s body.

The victim’s name was Sun Jianjun. His younger brother told The Epoch Times, “My brother was severely beaten on November 25, and he was in critical condition until the morning of November 27. The doctor said his body temperature and blood pressure recovered to normal, but then again, my family were notified that evening at 11:15 p.m. that he passed away after another medical rescue attempt. When I arrived at the hospital, I saw six police in the ward.”

“After the police left around 2:30 a.m. on November 28, I discovered seven police vehicles parked under the hospital building, and another ten arrived about 9:00 a.m. We guessed that police planned to remove my brother’s body, so we called all our relatives to come and lift my brother’s body and walked out the hospital together. Nearly a hundred police suddenly came up, pulled away my family members and relatives, and loaded my brother’s body in a car with plate “Luf8477” and disappeared. Up until now, we still don’t know where my brother’s body is.”

According to The Epoch Times reporter’s investigation, the Yiantan Municipal Police Bureau started a forced demolition with the excuse of building police family apartments. Before the demolition, the developer agreed to compensate the Sun family 1.8 million yuan, but later they cut the compensation to only one-third of the agreed upon amount.

The family head SunSier (the father of the deceased victim) was injured with an axe. (The Epoch Times)

Around 1:00 a.m. on November 25, around 40 people came to Sun’s house to carry out the forced demolition. They first set fire to one of the houses. When the family rushed out to fight the fire, they broke into the house and beat the family; three family members were severely injured and admitted to the hospital.

After the beating, demolition personnel razed the houses using an excavator.

According to the Sun family, they have resisted the forced demolition eight times since this past April, although they had repeatedly reported this to the authorities and local media, nothing happened. Their houses have finally been destroyed plus the cost of one of the son’s lives.

- The Epochtimes

China’s Persecution of Christians Intensifies After Olympics

China Aid, October 29, 2008-

CHINA – Since the end of the Olympic Games, ChinaAid has received reports of intensified religious persecution from across China.

- In Beijing, Pastor “Bike” Zhang Mingxuan and his family members have been evicted from their home, beaten and arrested.

- In Heilongjiang province, one city called Yichuan recently banned all of the house churches.

- In Yunnan province, some house church members were attacked right after the Olympics.

- In Shandong province, Pastor Zhang Zhongxin was sentenced to two years of re-education through labor, and after the Olympics his appeal was denied. Pastor Zhang’s lawyer, Li Fangping, was refused permission to meet with him because authorities claim Pastor Zhang could endanger state security.

In another shocking new discovery, ChinaAid learned 29 house church leaders have been serving time in a labor camp and prisons in Henan province since July 9, 2007. They are accused of being “evil cult” members.

Among the 29 house church leaders, 21 are being held in No. 3 Prison of Henan province. One leader was released in September 2008. The other seven house church members belong to a house church group in Lingbao city that is part of the “Born Again Movement”. They were sentenced by the court as “evil cult” members on July 9, 2007. One leader was sentenced to seven years imprisonment, which is the harshest sentence against a house church leader in recent years besides Pastor Zhang Rongliang who was sentenced to seven and a half years in 2004 for allegedly “attempting to illegally cross the border and forgery of an official document”.

- ChinaAid.org

Retired Professor Arrested in Pre-Olympic Purge in East China for Printing Underground Newsletters

Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC), 21 Aug 2008 -

New York—As Olympic sailing competitions continue in Qingdao, a retired professor and his wife face imminent sentencing in nearby Jinan for practicing Falun Gong and printing underground leaflets. Official documents obtained by the Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC) corroborate the detention of the elderly couple, who remain at risk of severe abuse in custody.

Mr. Zhang Xingwu, a 67-year-old retired physics professor at Jinan Normal University, and his wife, Ms. Pinjie Liu were arrested from their home on July 16, 2008.

“More than twenty policemen broke into my parents’ home in Shandong province, ransacked the house, [took] computer equipment and large amounts of money, and abducted my parents,” says Zhang Shuangying, a nurse residing in New York.

“My mother had a stroke in custody that night, which paralyzed the left side of her body, so they released her the next day. But she was abducted again on August 6. Now she and my father both face prison sentences because they practice Falun Gong and had printed underground newsletters about it.”

Official Documentation and Risk of Torture

According to Zhang, Ms. Liu was released only after her son paid the police 10,000 yuan (approximately $1,500). The Falun Dafa Information Center has obtained a copy of the release notice he received at the time, which mentions the payment (document 1).

Two other documents obtained by the Center, complete with the official stamp of the local security agency, further confirm the couple’s arrest (document 2 / document 3). According to one document, Mr. Zhang faces charges of “using a heretical organization to undermine implementation of the law,” a vague provision of the criminal code commonly used to sentence Falun Gong adherents to prison terms of up to 12 years. (see Amnesty International report)

The elderly couple has practiced Falun Gong since 1995 and have been repeatedly detained since the discipline was banned in 1999. From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Zhang spent three years at Jinan Liuchangshan “re-education through labor” (RTL) camp, while Ms. Liu was at Jinan Women’s RTL camp for the same period.

During these previous periods in police custody, the two elderly adherents suffered sleep deprivation, beatings, electric baton shocks, and other forms of torture. Since their most recent detention, family members have been denied access to see them, raising serious concerns that they are again being abused.

Underground Print Shop

Taking advantage of his technological savvy and as part of a nationwide grassroots movement, in recent years, Mr. Zhang operated a site for printing underground newsletters and VCDs from his home. The newsletters included the Minghui Weekly, a collection of articles on Falun Gong and rights abuses committed against its adherents. Also printed were copies of The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, an editorial series published by the overseas Chinese-language Epoch Times newspaper. The series is a critical analysis of the Communist Party’s history ruling China with detailed information on Falun Gong, as well as previous political campaigns, from the 1957 anti-rightist movement to the 1989 massacre. According to a 2005 study by Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, websites featuring The Nine Commentaries are one of the most pervasively blocked in China (see “In-state testing results” section of report).

As a result of Zhang’s efforts to disseminate such sensitive information, the local police—who often face punishment or demotion when underground materials are distributed in their area—reportedly viewed him as a key target for arrest in the pre-Olympic purge. According to his daughter, six other local Falun Gong adherents who had distributed materials he prepared were also arrested recently, increasing Zhang’s risk of receiving a long sentence.

According to the Falun Dafa Information Center, since December 2007, over 8,000 Falun Gong adherents have been detained across China. In Beijing alone, at least 200 have been arrested and over 30 sentenced without trial to “re-education through labor” camps for up to 2.5 years (news), marking the worst escalation of the campaign against the group in years.

The FDIC is calling for:

• Zhang Xingwu and Liu Pingjie’s immediate and unconditional release, as they have been detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their fundamental rights to freedom of belief and expression. These rights are enshrined in Articles 35 and 36 of the Chinese Constitution and China’s commitments under international law.
• The international community to pressure the Chinese authorities to release Zhang and Liu.
• Foreign media in China to investigate Zhang and Liu’s case and seek to attend their trial should it take place. Their daughter Zhang Shuangying, currently living in New York, is available for interview.

- Original: Urgent Appeal: Retired Professor Arrested in Pre-Olympic Purge for Printing Underground Newsletters

China: Retired Teacher Tortured to Death For Telling The Facts of Persecution

Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group, August 3, 2008-

Victim:

Mr. Qi Tingsong’s mouth was injured during force-feeding

Mr. Qi Jinsong, male, 67, lived in Laiwu City, Shandong Province. He was a retired teacher formerly employed by the Ezhuang Coal Mine under the jurisdiction of the Xinwen Mine Bureau, Shandong Province.

Locations:

1.Gaozhuang Police Substation, Laiwu City, Shandong Province

2.Laiwu Detention Center, Laiwu City, Shandong Province

Perpetrators:

1.Yang Leping, security section chief at the Ezhuang Coal Mine, Xinwen Mine Bureau, Shandong Province, phone number: 86-13963468875

2.Liu Qing, security section chief from the Laicheng District Public Security Bureau in Laiwu City, Shandong Province, phone number: 86-634-6283037 (Office), 86-634-6283256 (Home)

3.Chen Fayong, male, director of the Laiwu Detention Center, Shandong Province, phone number: 86-634-6287103 (Office), 86-634-6218799 (Home), 86-13963401969 (Cell)

4.Xie (last name), an officer from Laiwu Procuratorate Office, Laiwu City, Shandong Province

Description:

On October 15, 2007, when Mr. Qi Tingsong was clarifying the truth about Falun Gong in Gouli Village, Gaozhuang Town, Laiwu City. The police from the Gaozhuang Police Substation arrested him and detained him at the Laiwu Detention Center.

Yang Leping, security section chief at the Ezhuang Coal Mine, conspired with another security section chief named Liu Qing from the Laicheng District Public Security Bureau in Laiwu City, to sentence Mr. Qi to a forced labor camp. Mr. Qi refused to cooperate with them and held a hunger strike in protest. His family went to the Detention Center in person several times to ask for his release, but Liu Qing always refused their requests and also had people threaten him.

During this time, Chen Fayong, director of the Laiwu Detention Center, instigated a group of police officers to savagely force-feed Mr. Qi. They kicked his lower back and seriously injured him. His upper digestive system was seriously injured from the force-feeding, resulting in severe internal bleeding. Mr. Qi was near death. (Shang Qingling, a practitioner from Chayu Village, Tietonggou, Lixin Town, Gangcheng District, Laiwu City, was also force-fed and tortured to death.)

They sent Mr. Qi to Laiwu City Hospital. The hospital exam revealed that Mr. Qi’s had serious internal injuries which cause internal organs failure. He was taken to the hospital on the evening of November 5, 2007. At 3:10 a.m. on November 6, the Laiwu City Hospital issued a notice stating that he was in critical condition.

At this crucial moment, Liu Qing, Chen Fayong, Yang Leping, and Xie from the Laiwu Procuratorate Office refused to assume responsibility for Mr. Qi’s medical expenses. The hospital then stopped the injections and Mr. Qi’s medication. Officials deceived Mr. Qi’s family into signing a document stating that the office had already released him and no longer had anything to do with whether he was alive or dead.

Although Mr. Qi’s life hung in the balance, the hospital stopped giving him injections and medication. Attempting to save his life, his family requested that his medical expenses be reimbursed by the authorities.

However, the request was denied.

Mr. Qi discharged a large quantity of blood from his rectum while unconscious. On November 11, 2007, he passed away. Mr. Qi, always an optimistic and understanding person, had been physically strong and had no illnesses before he was arrested.

However, he was tortured to death for his belief in Falun Gong.

- Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group: Mr. Qi Tingsong Tortured to Death for Clarifying the Truth

Photoshopped Fake Image of China Leader Published In News By State-run Agency Xinhua

By Xue Fei, Epoch Times Staff, Jul 27, 2008-

Mainland China Internet surfers have always suspected China’s state-run media of extensively using the popular graphic editing tool Adobe Photoshop, but they did not expect the artificial contrivance to be so noticeable.

Recently, the Chinese regime’s state-run media agency Xinhua News published a photo of regime leader Hu Jintao visiting Qingdao, which shows two identical faces in the crowd. Upon careful examination, the pavement in front of and behind Hu is different, and the Caucasian man on the far left is not really looking at Hu [see left]. The image is actually a compilation of two photos.

(Photo: “Twins” found in Xinhua News Agency photos; discrepancies highlighted / Screenshot of web page/ The Epochtimes)

The ‘Photoshopped’ image was published in the Xinhua article “Chinese President Inspects Preparatory Work for Olympics Sailing Event.” The article implied that the algae bloom in the Qingdao Olympic regatta venue was very serious since Hu did not go to the seaside, but a photo of a sail (right of image) is added by Xinhua to prove the “good news” of his so-called visit.

More than 3 million posts have appeared in online Chinese forums and message boards regarding the photo. Later, Xinhua ordered other media not to use the photo without any explanation or apology.

It is not the first time that Xinhua has allegedly ‘Photoshopped’ news photos. In May, during Hu and his wife’s farewell meeting with the emperor of Japan, Mrs. Hu was sitting too close to her interpreter and the interpreter was blocked, making for an awkward and confusing photo. Xinhua News was dissatisfied with the photo and decided to remove the interpreter from the photo, only leaving her chair. However, they forgot to remove her feet, which appeared under the chair [see right]. This photo was published in the Chinese newspaper Jiefang Daily and was jokingly called “Two people with six legs” by the public.

(Photo at right:

The unedited (top) and edited (bottom) versions of Xinhua’s photos with Hu Jintao and his wife’s visit to Japan. (Xinhuanet (top) / Internet screenshot (bottom))

- Original report: Who Photoshopped Hu? , The Epochtimes

Journalist gets 4 years for exposing Communist Party corruption in east China

Reporters Without Borders, 15 May 2008-

Journalist gets four years for exposing Communist Party corruption in Shandong

Reporters Without Borders condemns the four-year prison sentence that a court in Tengzhou, in the eastern province of Shandong, imposed on journalist Qi Chonghuai on 13 May on charges fraud and extorting money. Qi, who spent 11 months in pretrial detention, used to work for Fazhi Zaobao (Legal Rule Morning Post), a newspaper owned by the justice ministry.

One of his lawyers, Li Xiongbing, who pleaded for his acquittal in court, said that this decision violates press freedom.

“Coming just a few months before the Olympic Games, this sentences is yet another example of the Chinese government’s lack of tolerance for critical writers and journalists.” Reporters Without Borders said. “Qi’s trial was not fair. It lasted only 11 hours, the defence was unable to call any witness and no written proof of the alleged fraud was produced. Local Chinese justice had yet again displayed a complete lack of transparency.”

Aged 42, Qi had worked for 13 years as a journalist for Fazhi Zaobao and other media outlets, and often wrote about corruption in political and financial circles. He was arrested on 25 June after posting an article about Communist Party corruption in Tengzhou on a forum on Xinhuanet, the website of the official news agency. He was formally charged with “fraud and extorting money” on 2 August.

Nine days before Qi’s arrest, a friend of his, freelance photographer Ma Shiping, was arrested for the same reason, although the pretext used was the fact that he had posted a photo of an official building online without being officially accredited as a photographer. A member of the staff at Tengzhou Daily, which used to employ Ma, said: “He dared to say what the accredited reporters did not dare write. He dared to say the truth.” Ma is still detained in Tengzhou.

One of Qi’s former colleagues at Fazhi Zaobao, journalist He Yanjie, was given a two-year prison sentence by the same court in connection with his work for the newspaper. Both journalists are being held in Tengzhou prison.

Today in China, 31 journalists and 48 cyberdissidents are in jail.

- Original report from Reporters Without Borders: Journalist gets four years for exposing Communist Party corruption in Shandong

(photos) China Review: 16th Anniversary of Falun Gong’s Introduction to Public

The Epoch Times, May 13, 2008-

On May 13, 1992 Falun Gong founder Mr. Li Hongzhi introduced the practice of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, to the general public in mainland China. According to official statistics, in a few short years it grew dramatically in popularity until there were at least 70 million Chinese practitioners.

(photo: people practice Falun Gong in Harbin City, Heilongjiang province, northeast China )

In the wake of the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Falun Gong (video: Why is Falun Gong persecuted in China), which started on July 20, 1999, the scenes of Falun Gong group practice in mainland China have become events worth recalling. Let us take a look at these historic photographs of Falun Gong group practice in China in celebration of this year’s World Falun Dafa Day.

Above: people practice Falun Gong in Beijing, Capital city of China

Above: people practice Falun Gong in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, northeast China

Above: people practice Falun Gong in Weihai City, Shandong Province, east China

Above: people practice Falun Gong in Shanghai City, east China

Above: people practice Falun Gong in Shenzhen City, Guangdong province, south China

More photos from the Epochtimes

China: Arrest and Detention of House Church Christians Spread Out

According to China Aid Association (CAA) reports, China’s intensifid campaign against House Church Christians is spreading in recent two months, many leaders arrested, bible schools raided, and Christian Books Confiscated.

In north China, Inner Mongolia:

- on May 1, 2008, two house church ministers detained . Security officials also confiscated a video camera, books, a washing machine, comforters, and food supplies belonging to the Daqing Church. All of the aforementioned items were taken without proper and legal documentation.

- On May 4, an old pastor was summoned to the Local police station and charged with holding an “illegal religious meeting”;

- On May 5, in another organized attack by Public Security Officials, a church meeting was raided and 13 believers were arrested and detained .

In west China, Xin Jiang:

- On April 23, 2008, 10 people were arrested during a House Church Worship Service, and released at the same day

(more details about these case)

In northeast China, Jilin province:

- on May 4, 2008, a pastor in Yanji City, Jilin province was beaten, wounded and finally arrested while he was preaching in his church

In East China, Shandong:

- May 8, 2008, 3 house church leaders in Shandong province were detained while organizing a Bible study group. One pastor from Taiwan was expelled from China immediately

- Meanwhile, 4 other church leaders from the same province have been detained since the beginning of May.

( More details about above cases)

Notes:

- House church Christians in China recognize only one head of the Church, that is, Jesus Christ.

- The TSPM (Three-Self Patriotic Movement) is the government-sanctioned (“patriotic”) Christian organization, which must recognize two, both Christ and the Communist Party.

The TSPM is used as a tool of the Communist Party to control and regulate the expression of Christianity.

China: At least 20 children killed, 1,520 people infected by virus which was covered up by officials

Reuters, Mon Apr 28, 2008 -

BEIJING, April 29 (Reuters) – A virus that has killed at least 20 children in eastern China is infecting hundreds more people each day and has spread to a neighbouring province, newspapers said on Tuesday.

The enterovirus 71, or EV71, which can cause hand, foot and mouth disease, began spreading in Anhui province’s Fuyang city in early March, Xinhua news agency said, but was only publicly reported on Sunday.

By Tuesday, the virus had killed 20 children, most under the age of two. There had been 1,520 cases reported so far, Xinhua said, a jump of about 600 from the figure released on Monday.

“The current outbreak may be just a beginning,” the Ministry of Health’s Health News newspaper said. “We cannot exlude the possibility that the virus will spread further.”

The Beijing News said that the virus had spread to neighbouring Henan province.

Enteroviruses spread mostly through contact with infected blisters or faeces and can cause high fever, paralysis and swelling of the brain or its lining.

“Most parents, doctors and government officials treat this virus as a normal illness and lose time in discovering and curing it,” the Beijing news said.

The delay of reporting the virus to the public by over 40 days has triggered heated discussion and criticism in Chinese media, which said local government officials should be sacked.

China’s reported cases of hand, foot and mouth disease in the first four months this year has increased by about 300 percent the same time last year, the Health News newspaper said.

There is no vaccine or antiviral agent available to treat or prevent the virus. Instead, treatment focuses on managing its complications, which can include meningitis and heart failure, the World Health Organisation’s acting China Representative, Cris Tunon, said in a statement. (Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Nick Macfie and Sanjeev Miglani)

- Reuters: Virus outbreak spreads in east China -newspapers