CAT/C/53/D/511/2012 2.3 Because of her gratitude to Falun Gong, the complainant felt a need to support this movement. In December 1999, she tried to get a visa to go to China, but her visa application was denied. Having heard from a friend that it was easier to obtain a visa for Hong Kong, China the complainant flew to Hong Kong, China and obtained a visa upon arrival, and thereafter went to China. 2.4 The complainant stayed in Beijing for one week, visiting Tiananmen Square every day. On one such occasion, a policeman approached her and asked her if she practised Falun Gong. She did not answer him and walked away. On 29 December 1999, she met a fellow Falun Gong practitioner who was also from Australia in Tiananmen Square. He took the complainant to a place where many practitioners gathered to discuss their beliefs. One morning, the complainant and her fellow practitioner from Australia saw several police officers in the lobby of the hotel where they were staying. The police officers followed them as they went to the railway station. Along the way, the complainant’s luggage was stolen. She went to the Australian Consulate in Beijing, where she informed the consulate staff of her situation. They helped her to escape through a back door. 2.5 On 31 December 1999, at around 7.30 a.m., the complainant took a bus tour to Tiananmen Square to watch the flag-raising ceremony. At the square, she went over to greet three Australians who were also Falun Gong practitioners. Suddenly, in front of hundreds of sightseeing tourists, the complainant was violently grabbed from behind by three police officers in plain clothes, who twisted her arms, pulled her hair, and dragged her to a police van parked nearby. In the van, she was beaten by the three police officers. They punched her and kicked her. One police officer used a hard object wrapped with newspaper to hit her on the head, causing her to bleed profusely. There were already a dozen other Falun Gong practitioners in the van. They were all taken to the Beijing Police Department Administration Office. The complainant was put in a small room measuring 4–5 square metres. More than 20 other Falun Gong practitioners were standing in the corridor. The police officer present hit the practitioners’ heads and told the complainant to hand over her Falun Gong books. When she refused, the policeman proceeded to inspect the complainant’s entire body, and the complainant cried. Upon discovering her Australian passport, the police officials sent her to the Exit and Entry Administration Department of the Ministry of Public Security. There, the complainant was locked in a basement garage measuring around 12–13 square metres. About a dozen Falun Gong practitioners were already detained in the room. Until the afternoon of 1 January 2000, during a span of over 30 hours, the police did not provide them with any food or water. Later on 1 January 2000, the Beijing police escorted the complainant to the airport and sent her back to Hong Kong, China. 2.6 The complainant stayed in Hong Kong, China for two weeks, living on the street with other Falun Gong practitioners, in front of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government, in order to “clarify the truth about Falun Gong to people on the street”. Feeling that she could not yet return to Australia because she had not achieved her goal, the complainant returned to China on 23 January 2000. She visited her brother’s home in Shanghai with another Falun Gong practitioner. The next morning, the complainant discovered that the police had visited her brother’s home and had questioned his wife. The complainant and her fellow practitioner felt they had no choice but to quickly set off for Beijing in the middle of the night. There, they stayed with a friend. The complainant contacted her husband in Australia, and, out of worry for her safety and out of esteem for and faith in Falun Gong, he took leave from his job and made the necessary arrangements to fly to China to join her. 2.7 On 26 January 2000, at about 6 a.m., the complainant, her husband and five other Falun Gong practitioners were seized by three or four police officers at Rendinghu Park in Beijing. The police officers jumped out from a police car and, without giving any reason, 3