Translated from a Chinese language Radio Free Asia Report - January 31 (New York)

Human Rights in China, headquartered in New York, issued a news release stating that the detained Falun Gong practitioners Zhang Jun and Li Chiyue (mother and daughter) have been on a hunger strike for more than eight days. China's Ministry of Public Security prevented lawyers from meeting with them. They were also deprived of their legal right to seek the counsel of a lawyer.

It was reported that Zhang Jun and Li Chiyue's relatives asked Human Rights in China for urgent help, because the mother and daughter were already in critical condition. Police agents in Beijing are still refusing to accept the warm clothes Zhang Jun's husband Li Jinxi brought for his wife and daughter.

According to sources in China, on the evening of January 20, Zhang Jun and her daughter Li Chiyue were arrested while they were trying to put up small ads at Huatang Supermarket in Chaoyang District of Beijing. The contents of the small ads were Falun Gong practitioners wishing people a happy Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) and condemning Jiang Zemin's persecution of Falun Gong. The next day, after their arrest, the police agents from Chaoyang District searched their home without a warrant. On January 30, the local police issued an arrest warrant for Zhang Jun and Li Chiyue. It was read to Zhang Jun's husband Li Jinxi and they did another search.

Human Rights in China immediately appealed to the Ministry of Public Security for the release of Zhang Jun and Li Chiyue in order to avoid further deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in jail.