CAT/C/53/D/511/2012 and male prisoners could see her when she took a shower and changed clothes. After intervention from the Australian consul, the prison officers transferred her to all-female cells, and allowed her to sleep on a bed and walk around outside twice. The complainant continued to practise Falun Gong. One day, she used toothpaste to write on her dark red shirt: “Whoever persecutes Falun Gong today, tomorrow you would be a sinner condemned by history”. When the police officers arrived to interrogate her, they were enraged and cursed at her, pushing her into the cell and violently removing her only shirt. They encouraged other prisoners to beat her and, on one such occasion, a female prisoner saw her meditating and pushed her to the ground, stepping on and grinding her hand so hard that she felt as though the bones were broken. The prisoner was praised by the police officers and released after a few days. The complainant and the other detainees were all forced to work more than 10 hours a day, seven days a week, making products that would then be exported. The officers used electric batons to shock them into continuing to work. 2.15 After detention of nearly five months, the complainant was sent for a hearing before the Intermediary Court of Guangdong, which sentenced her to eight months’ imprisonment. She returned to prison and continued to endure torture, inhumane conditions and forced labour. The complainant wrote to her husband, who began lobbying the Government of Australia for her release. The Australian consul negotiated the complainant’s release for early August 2000; however, on the eve of the scheduled release, then-President of China Jiang Zemin called the Shenzhen police and instructed them to detain her for another three months. 2.16 On 4 November 2000, police officers escorted the complainant to the Guangzhou airport for her deportation to Australia. At the airport, the complainant displayed a t-shirt bearing a pro-Falun Gong poem she had written. Because they were in public, the police officers did not retaliate. 2.17 On 12 January 2001, the complainant and her husband again flew to Hong Kong, China to participate in the “Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference”.1 They arrived at the airport early on 13 January 2001, and were detained along with other Falun Gong practitioners. The complainant again went on a hunger strike until she was deported back to Australia on 14 January 2001. The complainant has been blacklisted by Hong Kong, China and is no longer allowed to obtain a visa to enter China. 2.18 Since her return to Australia, the complainant continues to suffer an itchy rash on over 70 per cent of her body due to the treatment she endured in prison in China. She has bloody lesions and sores on her body, and suffers from psychological distress as well. She was withdrawn from others after her return and was not able to return to work. She became forgetful, defensive and ill-tempered. She also had nightmares and insomnia. 2 2.19 On 14 March 2007, the complainant filed a tort claim for damages before the Supreme Court of New South Wales in Australia.3 The claim was filed against former President of China, Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan and the Falun Gong Control Office. The complainant invoked ordinary territorial jurisdiction because she is a resident of New South Wales. She claimed to have suffered loss of amenity, economic loss, as well as pain and suffering. The complainant submits that the representatives of the Chinese Embassy were 1 2 3 6 The complainant states that Falun Gong is also known as Falun Dafa. The complainant attaches two letters (dated 10 October 2001 and 20 March 2006) written by her doctor to attest to the physical harm she continued to suffer after her return to Australia. She also provides a psychological report. The complainant provides a copy of the decision, which states that she alleged “damages for acts of torture and human rights abuses allegedly committed by the defendants upon the plaintiff on various occasions between December 1999 and August 2000”.