Amnesty International: 2004 Annual Report (excerpts)

Repression of spiritual and religious groups

Members of unofficial spiritual or religious groups, including some Qi Gong groups and unregistered Christian groups, continued to be arbitrarily detained, tortured and ill-treated.

Rhetoric intensified in the official media against the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which was banned as a “heretical organization” in July 1999, apparently exacerbating the climate of violence and intolerance against the Falun Gong. Detained Falun GongFalun Gong sources, more than 800 people detained in connection with the Falun Gong.

Deng Shiying reportedly died on 19 July, the day after her release from Jilin Women’s Prison in Changchun City, Jilin Province, where she was serving a seven-year prison sentence in connection with producing and distributing information describing human rights violations against Falun Gong practitioners in China. According to Falun Gong sources, she was beaten by other inmates, apparently prompted by prison officials, shortly before her release. practitioners, including large numbers of women, were at risk of torture, including sexual abuse, particularly if they refused to renounce their beliefs. According to overseas had died since 1999, mostly as a result of torture or ill-treatment.

For the full text of the report, see: http://www.amnestyusa.org/annualreport.php?id=55AD5D7A95AEDED980256E9E005A96E3&c=CHN