Refugee Review Tribunal
AUSTRALIA
RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE
Research Response Number: CHN30478 Country: China Date: 28 August 2006
Keywords: CHN30478 – China – Falun Gong – Detention Centres
This response was prepared by the Country Research Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
Questions: 1. Is there any verification of the existence of these detention centres: Army Camp in Da Xing County, Zhi De Hotel in Dong Cheng Distrcit, Fong Tai Detention and Dong Cheng District Detention? 2. Are Falun Gong practitioners known to be sent to these centres?
RESPONSE
(Notes: 1. There is a range of transliteral spelling from non-English languages into English. In this RRT Country Research Response the spelling is as per the primary source document. 2. In this response Falun Gong sources are identified as such.)
1. Is there any verification of the existence of these detention centres: Army Camp in Da Xing County, Zhi De Hotel in Dong Cheng Distrcit, Fong Tai Detention and Dong Cheng District Detention? 2. Are Falun Gong practitioners known to be sent to these centres?
Information on the army camp in Daxing County, the “Zhi de Hotel” detention camp in Dong Cheng District, Fong Tai Detention and Dong Cheng District Detention is set out below.
Also attached is a map showing the Daxing, Dongcheng and Fengtai areas of Beijing (‘Daxing, Dongcheng, Fengtai’ 2000, Micrcosoft Encarta Interactive Atlas 2000 – Attachment 1).
Army Camp in Daxing County
No information was found in the sources consulted on an army camp in Daxing County carrying out brain-washing. Sources indicate that there are number of detention facilities in Daxing County. Non-Falun Gong sources
Human Rights in China (HRIC), in the context of a European Union delegation report, refers to a “model prison” as follows:
The delegation also visited a “model prison” at Daxing, south of Beijing, where model detainees were so busy reading they did not even respond to questions. The jail reportedly had a swimming pool and billiard tables, while each cell was decorated with potted plants and a tank of tropical fish (Human Rights in China 1998, ‘European Union’ in From Principle to Pragmatism: Can “dialogue” improve China’s human rights situation?, 23 June – Attachment 2).
The China Aid Association gives contact details for the Tianhe Prison as:
…No.9 Qingfeng Road, Tiantang He, Daxing District, Beijing City Tel: +86-10- 60278855, director: Mr. Yang Hua; website: www.qsc.gov.cn (‘China: Massive Arrest of Church Leaders including Americans in Yunnan Province; CAA Issues Heartbreaking True Stories on Persecution inside China’ 2006, China Aid Association website, 19 April, p.2 http://www.chinaaid.org/english_site/press_release _detail.php?id=266 – Accessed 27 April 2006 – Attachment 3).
China’s state-run Xinhua mentions the “Beijing Women’s Prison, located in Daxing County” (‘China: Feature: Life in Beijing women’s prison’ 2006, Xinhua, 9 January http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200601/09/eng2006 0109_233803.html – Accessed 10 January 2006 – Attachment 4).
The Laogai Handbook 2003-2004 (which does not contain information on detention centres) lists two prisons in Daxing County:
• Beijing Women’s RTL [Reeducation Through Labor] (Public name of the camp: Tiantanghe Farm) (Laogai Research Foundation 2004, Laogai Handbook 2003-2004, Part 1, pp.35-39 http://www.laogai.org/news2/book/part-1.pdf – Accessed 25 August 2006 – Attachment 5; Laogai Research Foundation 2004, Laogai Handbook 2003- 2004, Part 2a, p.82 http://www.laogai.org/news2/book/part-2a.pdf – Accessed 25 August 2006 – Attachment 6); and
• Tuanhe RTL [Reeducation Through Labor] (Public name of the camp: Tuanhe Farm) (Laogai Research Foundation 2004, Laogai Handbook 2003-2004, Part 1, pp.35-39 http://www.laogai.org/news2/book/part-1.pdf – Accessed 25 August 2006 – Attachment 5; Laogai Research Foundation 2004, Laogai Handbook 2003-2004, Part 2a, p.83 pp.76-83 http://www.laogai.org/news2/book/part-2a.pdf – Accessed 25 August 2006 – Attachment 6).
Falun Gong sources
Two Falun Gong sources referred to “brainwashing” at the following institutions:
• Daxing Tuanhe Cultural Department (‘[Beijing] Qinghua University Graduate Zhang Dahua Has Been Abducted Many Times and His Life Is in Danger Due to the Brutal Torture’ 2002, Latest News from China, 27 April, Clearwisdom website http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/5/4/21647p.html – Attachment 7); and • Daxing Forced Labor Camp (‘[Beijing] Brainwashed People Become Vicious and Beat Their Former Fellow Practitioners’ 2002, Latest News from China, 6 March, Clearwisdom website http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/3/14/19677p.html – Attachment 8).
Other Falun Gong sources have identified the following detention centres/prisons in Daxing County where practitioners have been detained:
• Daxing Detention Center (Zhou, Shiyu et al. 2000, A report on the extensive and severe human rights violations in the suppression of Falun Gong in the People’s Republic of China, August, p.100,233 – Attachment 9);
• Daxing Labor Camp (Zhou, Shiyu et al. 2000, A report on the extensive and severe human rights violations in the suppression of Falun Gong in the People’s Republic of China, August, p.167 – Attachment 9);
• “detained in Daxing County” (Zhou, Shiyu et al. 2000, A report on the extensive and severe human rights violations in the suppression of Falun Gong in the People’s Republic of China, August, p.211 – Attachment 9);
• Dispatch Center in Daxing County (‘China: Sexual violations and torture of female Falun Gong practitioners’ (undated), Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group website, p.3 http://www.flghrwg.net/index.php?option=content&task=vie w&id=1325&Itemid=0 – Accessed 22 November 2005 – Attachment 10);
• Tiantanghe Jail (Zhou, Shiyu et al. 2000, A report on the extensive and severe human rights violations in the suppression of Falun Gong in the People’s Republic of China, August, p.100,186 – Attachment 9);
• Tuanhe Labor Camp (Zhou, Shiyu et al. 2000, A report on the extensive and severe human rights violations in the suppression of Falun Gong in the People’s Republic of China, August, p.156,168 – Attachment 9; ‘China: Li Chunyuan Sentenced to Labor Camp for Filing Complaints against Former-President Jiang for the Persecution of Falun Gong’ 2004, Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group website http://www.falunhr.org/index.php?option=conten t&task=view&id=395 – Accessed 24 February 2006 – Attachment 11).
“Zhi De Hotel” detention camp in Dong Cheng District
No information was found in the sources consulted on a “Zhi De Hotel” detention camp in Dong Cheng District. However, there is a hotel named “Beijing First Fangwu Xiushan Gongcheng Zhi De Hotel Beijing” in “Dongcheng Qu” (‘Beijing First Fangwu Xiushan Gongcheng Zhi De Hotel Beijing’ (undated), ChinaRoom.org website http://www.chinaroom.org/Beijing/Beijing/Beijing_First_Fangwu_Xiushan_Gongcheng_Zhi _De_Hotel.htm – Accessed 23 August 2006 – Attachment 12).
For information on Dong Cheng District Detention see below.
Fong Tai Detention
No information was found on “Fong Tai Detention” in the sources consulted. References, however, were found to “Fengtai” detention centres which had Falun Gong detainees.
It is of interest that Laogai Handbook 2003-2004 notes that detention centres are usually run by the Public Security Bureau (PSB). It continued:
…A substantial number of people are held within these facilities, but they are generally not subjected to long-term incarceration there…(Laogai Research Foundation 2004, Laogai Handbook 2003-2004, Part 1, pp.35-36 http://www.laogai.org/news2/book/part-1.pdf – Accessed 25 August 2006 – Attachment 5).
Non- Falun Gong sources
A UN Special Rapporteur reported that a woman was temporarily detained at the Fengtai Detention Centre. The report states:
…She was detained at Huangpu Detention Centre on 24 July 2001 for five hours, after being arrested without warrant by Shanghai police in Beijing for seeking administrative review at the Beijing Supreme People’s Court and State Letter and Visits Bureau; and following a meeting with the State Letter and Visits Bureau on 7 September 2001, she was taken to the Fengtai Detention Centre for five days before taken back to Shanghai and detained at a detention facility for one year to serve an RTL sentence…(UN Commission on Human Rights 2006, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment: Mission to China’, ECOI website, 10 March, E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6, p.53 http://www.ecoi.net/pub/henk37_ecn4-2006-6-Add6.doc – Accessed 22 March 2006 – Attachment 13).
Amnesty International also reported of “a detention centre in Fengtai run by Chongwen District PSB (Amnesty International 1996, Women in China: Detained, Victimized but Mobilized’, July, ASA 17/80/96 – Attachment 14).
Falun Gong sources
One Falun Gong source gives the address of the Fengtai Detention Center as:
102 Shagang Village, Luguoqiao, Feng Tai District, Beijing 北京市丰台区芦沟 桥沙岗村102 号 (‘Beijing Fengtai Detention Center’ (undated), Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group website http://flghrwg.net/reports/Laborcamps/pdf/Beijing%20Feng%20Tai%20Detention%2 0Center.pdf#search=%22%20%22fengtai%20detention%22%22 – Accessed 23 August 2006 – Attachment 15).
The Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group also noted that one of the practitioners detained at this detention centre was arrested for distributing Falun Gong materials (‘Beijing Fengtai Detention Center’ (undated), Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group website http://flghrwg.net/reports/Laborcamps/pdf/Beijing%20Feng%20Tai%20Detention%20Center .pdf#search=%22%20%22fengtai%20detention%22%22 – Accessed 23 August 2006 – Attachment 15). A number of Falun Gong sources, including the following, state that practitioners are detained at this detention centre:
• ‘Beijing Fengtai Detention Center’ (undated), Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group website http://flghrwg.net/reports/Laborcamps/pdf/Beijing%20Feng%20Tai%20Detention%2 0Center.pdf#search=%22%20%22fengtai%20detention%22%22 – Accessed 23 August 2006 – Attachment 15;
• ‘Retired Lady Teacher from the Beijing Medical School Is Tortured to Death’ 2003, Clear Harmony website, 28 September http://clearharmony.net/articles/200309/15375p.html – Accessed 23 August 2006 – Attachment 16; and
• ‘[Beijing] Nearly Fifty Dafa Practitioners Sent to Fengtai Forced Labor Camp’ 2002, Latest News from China, 26 February, Clearwisdom website http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/7/4/23690p.html – Attachment 17.
Dong Cheng District Detention
Sources indicated that there is a Dongcheng District Detention which detains Falun Gong practitioners.
Non-Falun Gong sources
Agence France Presse refers to the “Dongcheng detention center” (‘Two more suicide attempts on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square – report’ 2003, Agence France Presse, 22 October – Attachment 18).
China’s state run Xinhua has reported that a Falun Gong practitioner was detained in the Dongcheng Detention Centre (‘Xinhua details “lies” of Falun Gong member’s testimony in USA’ 2000, BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific – Political, source: Xinhua, 26 April – Attachment 19).
Falun Gong sources
The attached Falun Gong sources refer to the Dongcheng District Detention Center having practitioners as detainees:
• Zhou, Shiyu et al. 2000, A report on the extensive and severe human rights violations in the suppression of Falun Gong in the People’s Republic of China, August, p.58,157,168,196-197,233 – Attachment 9; and
• ‘Torture Cases’ 2001, Falun Gong Human Rights Update, 4-10 March, Vol. 1 No. 18, p.3, Clearwisdom website http://www.clearwisdom.net/ – Attachment 20).
List of Sources Consulted
Internet Sources: Search Engines Google search engine http://www.google.com.au/
Databases: FACTIVA (news database) BACIS (DIMA Country Information database) REFINFO (IRBDC (Canada) Country Information database) ISYS (RRT Country Research database, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, US Department of State Reports) RRT Library Catalogue
List of Attachments
1. ‘Daxing, Dongcheng, Fengtai’ 2000, Micrcosoft Encarta Interactive Atlas 2000 (CD ROM)
2. Human Rights in China 1998, ‘European Union’ in From Principle to Pragmatism: Can “dialogue” improve China’s human rights situation?, 23 June
3. ‘China: Massive Arrest of Church Leaders including Americans in Yunnan Province; CAA Issues Heartbreaking True Stories on Persecution inside China’ 2006, China Aid Association website, 19 April, p.2 http://www.chinaaid.org/english_site/press_release _detail.php?id=266 – Accessed 27 April 2006 (CISNET China CX152132)
4. ‘China: Feature: Life in Beijing women’s prison’ 2006, Xinhua, 9 January http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200601/09/eng2006 0109_233803.html – Accessed 10 January 2006 (CISNET China CX143886)
5. Laogai Research Foundation 2004, Laogai Handbook 2003-2004, Part 1, pp.35-39 http://www.laogai.org/news2/book/part-1.pdf – Accessed 25 August 2006
6. Laogai Research Foundation 2004, Laogai Handbook 2003-2004, Part 2a, pp.76-83 http://www.laogai.org/news2/book/part-2a.pdf – Accessed 25 August 2006
7. ‘[Beijing] Qinghua University Graduate Zhang Dahua Has Been Abducted Many Times and His Life Is in Danger Due to the Brutal Torture’ 2002, Latest News from China, 27 April, Clearwisdom website http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/5/4/21647p.html
8. ‘[Beijing] Brainwashed People Become Vicious and Beat Their Former Fellow Practitioners’ 2002, Latest News from China, 6 March, Clearwisdom website http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/3/14/19677p.html
9. Zhou, Shiyu et al. 2000, A report on the extensive and severe human rights violations in the suppression of Falun Gong in the People’s Republic of China, August, p.58,100,155-158,167-169,186,196-197,211,233 10. ‘China: Sexual violations and torture of female Falun Gong practitioners’ (undated), Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group website http://www.flghrwg.net/index.php?option=content&task=vie w&id=1325&Itemid=0 – Accessed 22 November 2005 (CISNET China CX140674)
11. ‘China: Li Chunyuan Sentenced to Labor Camp for Filing Complaints against Former-President Jiang for the Persecution of Falun Gong’ 2004, Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group website http://www.falunhr.org/index.php?option=conten t&task=view&id=395 – Accessed 24 February 2006 (CISNET China CX147240)
12. ‘Beijing First Fangwu Xiushan Gongcheng Zhi De Hotel Beijing’ (undated), ChinaRoom.org website http://www.chinaroom.org/Beijing/Beijing/Beijing_First_Fangwu_Xiushan_Gongche ng_Zhi_De_Hotel.htm – Accessed 23 August 2006
13. UN Commission on Human Rights 2006, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment: Mission to China’, ECOI website, 10 March, E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6, pp.53-54 http://www.ecoi.net/pub/henk37_ecn4-2006-6-Add6.doc – Accessed 22 March 2006
14. Amnesty International 1996, Women in China: Detained, Victimized but Mobilized’, July, ASA 17/80/96
15. ‘Beijing Fengtai Detention Center’ (undated), Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group website http://flghrwg.net/reports/Laborcamps/pdf/Beijing%20Feng%20Tai%20Detention%2 0Center.pdf#search=%22%20%22fengtai%20detention%22%22 – Accessed 23 August 2006
16. ‘Retired Lady Teacher from the Beijing Medical School Is Tortured to Death’ 2003, Clear Harmony website, 28 September http://clearharmony.net/articles/200309/15375p.html – Accessed 23 August 2006
17. ‘[Beijing] Nearly Fifty Dafa Practitioners Sent to Fengtai Forced Labor Camp’ 2002, Latest News from China, 26 February, Clearwisdom website http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/7/4/23690p.html
18. ‘Two more suicide attempts on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square – report’ 2003, Agence France Presse, 22 October (FACTIVA)
19. ‘Xinhua details “lies” of Falun Gong member’s testimony in USA’ 2000, BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific – Political, source: Xinhua, 26 April (FACTIVA)
20. ‘Torture Cases’ 2001, Falun Gong Human Rights Update, 4-10 March, Vol. 1 No. 18, p.3, Clearwisdom website http://www.clearwisdom.net/