FALUN GONG ACCUSES CHINA OF TORTURING PRACTITIONERS TO DEATH

the Falun Gong accused the authorities at the Wanjia Labour Camp in Heilongjiang Province of beating female Dafa practitioners to death on June 20 and trying to cover up the incident.
The meditation group quoted reports from “reliable sources” relating that female practitioners determined to continue practising Falun Dafa were subjected to “all kinds of inhumane and despicable torture”. Fifteen were reported dead, and many others are said to be receiving emergency treatment.
The labour camp said the victims “had committed mass suicide by hanging themselves with ropes made of bed sheets” according to the Falun Gong. A statement released by the Falun Gong’s US spokesperson Gail Rachlin rebutted this claim saying that there are only beds in cells in the camps, and there is no place from which to attach ropes.
Of the fifteen women reported dead, only four have been identified: Zhang Yulan, Shao Ying, Zhao Yayun and Li Xiugin.
Zhang Yulan, 55, from Mishan City, was sentenced to two years labour education and sent to the Wanjia camp in 1999 after demonstrating in Beijing against the repression of the Falun Gong by the Chinese government. She was allegedly tortured to death on June 20 for holding firm in her belief in Falun Dafa. Rope marks were found around her neck, Falun Gong said.
Another woman from Mishan City, Shao Ying, 33, an employee of the Mishan Herd Bureau, was jailed at the Mishian detention centre for a month in 1999 and released after paying 6000 yuan. She was detained again in 2000 and sentenced to labour education. She was allegedly tortured to death on June 20.
Zhao Yuyun , 54, from Shuangcheng City, also died on June 20 from wounds all over her body, the Falun Gong said. She had been transferred to the Wanjia camp in August 2000 after spending a month in the Shuangcheng detention centre.
A retired worker from the Lishu district grain depot, Li Xiugin had been sentenced to two years labour education in December 2000 after demonstrating in Beijing in 1999. The police cremated her body without notifying family members of her death on June 20, the Falun Gong said. All her family received was an ash box.
Another two practitioners from the Lishu district were also tortured to death, the group said, adding that the details are still being investigated. The Falun Gong said all it has are three ash boxes.
The group said that “according to sources, after the incident happened, around June 20, the related parties blocked any news of the event and all the staff members and guards from Wanjia were not allowed to go home; no visitors were allowed to go there either. All the staff had to turn off their mobile phones and pagers, and the telephones were sealed off to prevent any possible information from leaking out. Moreover, in order to block the news, the labour camp did not notify the family members of the death of their loved ones. Some local police stations later informed the family members upon receiving the news but they were blamed by the labour leaking information.”
The Falun Gong had previously denounced the death of a handicapped follower on June 21. Zhang, 38, a laid-off factory worker who walked with a cane died three days after he was dragged from his home in Shuangcheng, a city in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, the group said in a statement from the United States. An official at the Shuangcheng detention centre confirmed that Zhang was dead, but said he died of illness after going on a hunger strike. Zhang is the first Falun Gong member reported dead since Chinese authorities announced harsher punishment for practitioners.
Rules published June 10 allow courts to try followers who spread information about Falun Gong for subversion, separatism, and leaking state secrets - all crimes punishable by death. The Chinese government had defined the Falun Gong as an “evil cult”.
The Falun Gong said Zhang´s death brought to 224 the number of followers who have died in police custody since China launched a crackdown on the group nearly two years ago. Other independent sources say more than 100 have died.