Statement by T.Kumar, Advocacy Director, Asia & Pacific, Amnesty International USA

Amnesty International is concerned about the continuing human rights abuses committed against the members of Falun Gong by the Chinese government. We are calling on the Chinese government to stop mass arrests, arbitrary detentions, torture, unfair trials and other human rights violations resulting from its official campaign against Falun Gong.

The crackdown is politically motivated, and the vast majority of its victims are ordinary people who merely exercised peacefully their fundamental rights to freedom of belief, association and expression. The trials of alleged leaders have been grossly unfair, and the law was used retroactively to secure convictions. The defence lawyers were prevented from pleading not guilty.

Tens of thousands of people have been arbitrarily detained, some of them repeatedly for short periods of time, hundreds have been sent without trial to forced labour camps or sentenced to prison terms after unfair trials. Some have been detained in psychiatric hospitals and forced to take drugs and some died in police custody in suspicious circumstances.

The family of 60-year-old Chen Zixiu, a Falun Gong follower, were asked to collect her body from a police station in Shandong province where she had been detained for four days in February. Her body was covered with bruises, the teeth were broken and there was blood coming out of her ears. She was arrested on suspicion of planning to go to Beijing to petition the authorities against the banning of the Falun Gong.

Many people have reported being tortured or ill-treated in detention. Cheng Fengrong, a 42-year-old woman, was detained by Shunyi police and reportedly slapped while being handcuffed to a tree, beaten with a broom which broke in two and then forced to stand barefoot in the snow; she was also punched and kicked and had two basins of cold water poured onto the back of her neck which froze under her feet.

We once again urge the Chinese authorities to stop human rights abuses against the members of Falun Gong. Thank you.