Two Falun Gong Women Raped Amid UN Rapporteur Visit

NEWS - Dec. 02, 2005 Falun Dafa Information Center [
*http://www.faluninfo.net/* ]
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* Two Falun Gong Women Raped Amid UN Rapporteur Visit *


On November 25, 51-year-old Ms. Liu Jizhi was tortured with an electric
stun baton, beaten about the hips and buttocks and then raped by police
at the Dongchengfang Town Police Station in Hebei Province.

NEW YORK (FDI) - The Falun Dafa Information Center (FDI) has learned of
the November 25th rape in police custody of two Falun Gong women, ages
42 and 51. Shocking photos suggest the violent nature of at least one of
the two rapes.

The rapes, occurring only three days after the UN Special Rapporteur on
Torture arrived in China for investigation, took place at the
Dongchengfang Town Police Station in Tunzhou City, Hebei Province.

The women's abductions fit a pattern wherein Chinese authorities detain
potential protesters or others who might expose abuses during "sensitive
periods," i.e., times during which prominent foreign visitors are in the
country and/or foreign media are watching. Chinese Christians, for
example, were arrested and held during President Bush's recent visit.
Activists are often detained during anniversaries of the 1989 Tiananmen
Square massacre.

"The tragedy of these rapes during the UN Special Rapporteur's visit
highlights a fundamental problem with how the international community
addresses the CCP's (Chinese Communist Party) human rights abuses. For
the CCP, torture is not a 'problem' or 'scourge' to be stamped out, but
rather, one of the primary ways in which it maintains control over
people," stated FDI spokesperson Levi Browde on Friday.

"Though the efforts of the Rapporteur should be applauded, we must be
clear as to how deep this problem runs. To date Chinese authorities have
yet to take action to hold perpetrators of torture and rapes such as
these accountable, and have, in fact, on many occasions promoted them
when their actions stifled demonstrations or prevented human rights
abuses from being reported."

*Beaten and Raped While Police Look On*

Ms. Liu Jizhi, a 51-year-old wife and mother, was abducted by an
estimated seven police on the night of November 24; her home was
ransacked and all Falun-Gong related materials seized. The police had no
warrant and forced entry into her home. Ms. Liu was taken to the
Dongchengfang Town Police Station where she was interrogated, beaten
with rubber clubs, shocked with stun batons, thrown to the ground, and
sexually groped by male police.


Ms. Liu's backside photographed after she was beaten and raped by
Chinese police.

Around 2 pm on November 25, a policeman named He Xuejian took Ms. Liu to
a room with two beds in it, lifted her shirt and began to fondle her
breasts. He then shocked her breasts with a stun baton. While watching
the sparks fly from the stun baton, He Xuejian reportedly yelled, "This
is fun! This is fun!" A policeman named Wang is said to have stood by,
looking on, and said, "Beat her up! Beat her up good!" Wang left the
room shortly after. He Xuejian continued to sexually assault Ms. Liu. He
soon proceeded to remove his pants and rape the 51-year-old Liu. During
the rape, He Xuejian repeatedly slapped Liu in the face and choked her.

After this, officer He Xuejian brought the other Falun Gong
practitioner, 42-year-old Ms. Han Yuzhi, into the same room and
proceeded to rape her. Both rapes took place in the presence of another
police officer, nicknamed Dajun, who lay on one of the beds. Dajun
reportedly made no attempt to stop either rape.

*Sexual Assault as Torture*

Accounts of rape in the Chinese government's persecution of the Falun
Gong are becoming increasingly common. In June 2000, eighteen Falun Gong
women being held at the Masanjia Labor Camp in Liaoning province were
stripped naked and thrown into prison cells with violent male criminals,
who were encouraged to rape and abuse the women. In May 2003, Ms. Wei
Xingyan, a graduate student at Chongqing University in Sichuan province,
was raped by a policeman after she was brought into police custody for
practicing Falun Gong. (news
) In 2004,
32-year-old Zhu Xia suffered a complete mental breakdown after being
repeatedly raped at the Pi County brainwashing facility in Sichuan
province. (news )

Over 44,000 cases of torture and severe abuse of Falun Gong
practitioners in China have been documented. Many cases, including both
men and women, involve sexual abuse or rape.

"These recent beatings and rapes are a wake-up call to the international
community," Browde said. "The human rights abuses of Falun Gong
practitioners that are rampant in China today are not merely due to
administrative problems or failures in the legal system, but rather the
deliberate policy of the CCP leadership to 'eradicate' Falun Gong. It is
an atrocity for which the international community must have zero
tolerance. We mustn't be appeased by statements or actions by the
Chinese government that show so-called 'goodwill' but do not deliver any
true change. To demand or accept anything less than real change is an
insult to our basic humanity and an encouragement to the CCP's
tyrannical rule."

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NEWS - Dec. 02, 2005
Falun Dafa Information Center, www.faluninfo.net
http://www.faluninfo.net/displayAnArticle.asp?ID=9299