E/CN.4/2001/66 page 59 244. Salam Kari, from Gulja (Yining), was reportedly arrested in May 1997 in connection with protests in Gulja in February 1997. His dead body showing marks of torture was reportedly returned to his family a few days after his arrest. 245. Nizamidin Yusayin, a 70-year-old scholar from Urumqi and former journalist for the newspaper Xinjiang Daily, is believed to have been arrested on or after September 1997 on suspicion that he had sheltered people wanted in connection with the February 1997 protests in Gulja. He was said to have been detained incommunicado in the Urumqi City Public Security Bureau. On 7 April 1998, he reportedly died allegedly as a result of being beaten and tortured by the police in order to force him to make a confession. 246. The Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had received information according to which the authorities have been conducting a major crackdown on the movements of the Falun Gong, Falun Dafa and other Qi Gong groups. Practitioners are said to be put under pressure to renounce their beliefs. Reports have been received that practitioners have been subjected to public humiliation for their membership in the Falun Gong movement. Tens of thousands of practitioners have reportedly been detained by the police for varying periods of time. Many of them are said to have been sent to labour camps without charge or trial for periods of up to three years for “re-education through labour”, or detained in psychiatric hospitals, where they were often administered drugs against their will, for periods of up to several weeks. Many of them are said to have suffered torture or ill-treatment. The Special Rapporteur has transmitted information on the following individual cases. 247. Xian Jin-ying, from Haiyan county, Zhejiang Province, and three other practitioners reportedly went to Tiananmen Square on 25 October 1999. They were allegedly sent to a nearby police station where between 50 to 60 practitioners were said to have been held. The police reportedly handcuffed about 12 practitioners in a very painful manner with one arm bending over the shoulder to meet the other hand on the back. The police subsequently made them kneel on the ground and hit their heads against the wall. Xian Jin-ying’s arm allegedly broke under the pressure. On 26 October, a doctor refused to examine her arm because of her Falun Gong membership. On 27 October, she was taken to hospital. 248. Liu Juhua, from Tangshan city, Hebei Province, and Yang Xuezhen, were reportedly arrested in Beijing on 22 September 1999 after resisting a police officer who allegedly attempted to take Falun Gong books away from them. They were reportedly taken to Beijing Qinghe detention centre where they were allegedly interrogated, deprived of sleep, had their arms tied to their feet behind their backs and to have been burnt with cigarettes on their hands. They were reportedly transferred to Kaiping detention centre in Tangshan city. Another practitioner detained at the same time at the Kaiping detention centre had reportedly been tortured with electric shock batons and beaten with a large club. 249. Zhang XiaoHong, from Da Lian city, was reportedly arrested on 30 August 1999. She was said to have been detained for 15 days in the detention centre in Dalian. On 9 September, she reportedly asked the prison authorities for permission to do her exercises but was refused. On the same evening, she was allegedly chained together with another Falun Dafa practitioner, back to back. They reportedly had to sit on the wooden floor, were prevented from sleeping and from using the toilet and were deprived of food. On 10 September, the two practitioners were