URGENT ACTION

IMPRISONED WOMAN TORTURED IN CHINA

Imprisoned Falun Gong practitioner Chen Zhenping, who is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence in China for “using a heretical organisation to subvert the law”, is believed to have been forcibly injected with drugs and subjected to regular beatings in prison. She remains at serious risk of further torture.

Chen Zhenping was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment in August 2008 for practising Falun Gong, a spiritual movement which has been banned by the Chinese authorities, and whose members face regular intimidation and persecution for their beliefs. She is currently being held at Women’s No. 5 Prison, Henan Province, where approximately 200 Falun Gong practitioners are held.

A former prisoner who was recently released from the same prison reported that Chen Zhenping is being held in a tiny cell where she is watched around the clock by other inmates, many of whom are criminals and drug addicts. The former prisoner reported that Chen Zhenping was often not allowed to go to the toilet and was tied to a bed and beaten. She was also forcibly injected with drugs and had been heard to cry “Don’t give me the shot. Don’t give me the shot. I don’t want to take the drug…” Falun Gong inmates in the prison are subjected to broadcasts denouncing the Falun Gong and to high-pitched loud music on a daily basis unless they renounce their faith.

Concerns remain that Chen Zhenping is still being subjected to torture and that her health is at serious risk.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Mandarin, English or your own language:

• Calling on the authorities to release Chen Zhenping immediately and unconditionally.

• Urging the authorities to guarantee that Chen Zhenping will not be tortured or otherwise ill-treated while she remains in custody;

• Urging the authorities to order a full and impartial investigation into allegations that Chen Zhenping has been tortured in detention, and bring those responsible to justice.

• Urging the authorities to ensure that Chen Zhenping is allowed access to legal assistance of her choosing, her family and any medical treatment that she may require;

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 13 MAY 2010 TO: