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United Nations: UN Special Rapporteurs Request the Chinese Government to Reply to Their Communications Regarding the Persecution of Ren Shujie and Liu Yunxiang
(Clearwisdom.net) The Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group submitted the
cases of the persecution of Ren Shujie and Liu Yunxiang in 2005. On September
13, 2005, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, jointly with the
Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, sent a letter of allegation
to the Chinese government concerning Mr. Ren Shujie and Liu Yunxiang, asking the
Chinese government to pay attention to their situation, protect their basic
human rights and provide detailed information about them. The Chinese government
did not reply. The cases of Ren Shujie and Liu Yunxiang have been listed in the
UN's 2006 Annual Reports on Human Rights. In the Special Rapporteurs' report, they described Ren Shujie and Liu
Yunxiang's situation: On 21 May 2002, police officers from the Zhonggong police station arrested
Ren Shujie for practicing Falun Gong. She was later sentenced to three years of
forced labor and was detained at the Longshan Lab our Camp. No charges were
brought against her and she was provided no hearing before a court of law. She
went on hunger strike for 64 days, during which time she was subjected to
torture and harsh labor for fifteen hours daily. After bringing an end to her
hunger strike she continued to be tortured by the prison guards, who subjected
her to electric shocks. On 22 March 2004, she was transferred to Masanjia Labor
Camp, where she was forced to sleep on cement floors for three months. She was
released on 24 December 2004, due to her extremely weak conditions, weighing
less than 40 kg, whereas at the time of her arrest she weighed 80 kg. The
several complaints that Ren Shujie made to the prison guards, who were the only
authorities she had access to, provided no response or amelioration to her
conditions of detention. (Note: Ren Shujie has now passed away.) Moreover, on 21 January 2000, Ms. Liu Yunxiang was arrested by police
officers belonging to the Junbukou Township of Weifang City in Shandong
province, for practicing Falun Gong. No charges were brought against her and she
was provided no hearing before a court of law. She was subjected to severe
beatings, and the men who were also arrested with her were forced to beat her
and the other arrested women on their hips. During her detention, she was
pressured to curse the founder of Falun Gong, drink alcohol and smoke
cigarettes, which is against Falun Gong principles. As a result of this
treatment, Ms. Liu Yunxiang miscarried. She was released on 20 January 2000
after having paid for her release. In the summer of 2001, she was arrested again
for practicing Falun Gong and was once again subjected to torture including
electric shocks, as a result of which she miscarried a second time. After twenty
days of torture, she was sent to a detention center for another month, after
which she was released. Ren Shujie and Liu Yunxiang's cases have been listed in UN's 2006 Annual
Reports on Human Rights. We hope that kind people in China can pass the
information to Ren Shujie and Liu Yunxiang's families. |