(Clearwisdom.net) The United Nations Commission on Human Rights documented civil and political rights, including the question of torture and detention of Falun Gong Practitioners on January 24, 2003. Below are selected sections from the document.

24 January 2003

The present document contains the opinions adopted by the Working Group on ArbitraryáDetention at its thirty-second, thirty-third and thirty-fourth sessions, held in November/December 2001, June 2002 and September 2002, respectively. A table listing all the opinions adopted by the Working Group and statistical data concerning these opinions are included in the report of the Working Group to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-ninth session (E/CN.4/2003/8).

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5. Because of their similar nature, the cases of the four following practitioners of Falun Gong are being dealt with in a single opinion:

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(c) Mr. Zhao Ming, 30-year-old, a graduate of the Department of Computer Science of Tingshua University, a postgraduate student at the Computer Science Department of Trinity College in Dublin, a former network engineer with Tingshua Unisplendour Group and a practitioner of Falun Gong. He was arrested on 13 May 2000 in Beijing at the home of a fellow Falun Gong practitioner, after his passport was confiscated to force him to give up his faith, thus preventing him from returning to Ireland to continue his studies. On 7 July 2000, he was sentenced to one year's imprisonment in a labour camp, and was allegedly tortured and subjected to ill-treatment. His sentence was extended for a further period of six months;

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6. In its reply, the Government reported that it has carefully reviewed the circumstances and stated the following concerning the persons in question:

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(c) Zhao Ming is a 30-year-old Han Chinese male and a native of Changchun City, Jilin Province, who graduated from Qinghua University in 1998 and went to Ireland in March 1999 to study at Trinity College, Dublin, at his own expense. In May 2000 Mr. Zhao was ordered by the Beijing Re-Education through Labour Commission to undergo one year of re education through labour for having participated in the illegal activities of a heretical organization and for having disrupted the social order. While serving his term, Mr. Zhao violated re-education-through-labour disciplinary regulations on numerous occasions, and his period of re-education was consequently extended for 10 months, that is until 3 December 2002;

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7. The Government stated that the above-mentioned persons have been under investigation and are undergoing re-education through labour, their legal rights having always been fully protected, and that the allegations transmitted by the Office of the High Commissioner that these persons have been subjected to cruel punishment and ill-treatment are complete fabrications.

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11. In the light of the foregoing, the following may be concluded:

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(c) In the case of Zhao Ming, no satisfactory explanation was provided as to why his passport was confiscated, which prevented him from continuing his studies, nor was any reason given for his detention other than the fact that he freely exercised his rights to freedom of belief and opinion in the manner to which he was entitled;

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12. The Working Group considers that, according to the information provided concerning these cases, the activities and protests of these four Falun Gong activists were peaceful and devoid of all violence. In particular, in these cases the persons concerned were detained for having peacefully exercised their right to demonstrate their belief in Falun Gong, which the Government has not denied. The Working Group is of the opinion that article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in particular, has been violated, as everyone, according to this article, has the right to freedom of belief, conscience and religion and as this right includes the freedom to manifest one's religion or belief and the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to impart them, either alone or in community with others, in public or private and through any media.

13. In its report on the visit to China (E/CN.4/1998/44/Add.2) the Working Group stated that administrative detention for re-education through labour should not be imposed on any person exercising his or her fundamental freedoms, as guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the cases at hand, detention does constitute a coercive measure designed to undermine the freedom of those persons to adopt beliefs of their own choosing.

14. In the light of the foregoing, the Working Group is of the opinion that the deprivation of liberty of Tang Xi Tao, Han Yuejuan, Zhao Ming and Yang Chanrong is arbitrary, as being contrary to articles 10, 11, 18, 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and falls within category II of the principles applicable to the consideration of cases submitted to the Working Group.

15. Consequently, the Working Group requests the Government to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation of these four persons and to bring it into conformity with the standards and principles set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and encourages it to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Adopted on 18 June 2002