E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6 page 52 Appendix 3 Individual cases - Outside detention facilities 1. The following cases document interviews carried out by the Special Rapporteur with individuals outside of detention. The interviews were either carried out in person or by telephone. The interview partners were either alleged victims of torture or ill-treatment or family members of alleged victims, or lawyers representing torture victims. In addition to torture allegations, some interviews (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4) also provide evidence about attempts of the Chinese authorities at obstructing the fact-finding of the Special Rapporteur. In two cases (Nos. 3 and 5) the Government denied the allegations and provided a different version of the facts which have been appended. 2. Gao Zhisheng, aged 41, lawyer, Beijing. (Interview in Beijing on 20 and 21 November 2005)Active on cases involving corruption, land seizures, police abuses and religious freedom, he reported that he and his family have been put under constant surveillance since 19 October 2005. This followed the publication of an open letter of 18 October to the President of the NPCs, concerning the persecution of Falun Gong. Gao Zhisheng has to date published three open letters to the Chinese authorities protesting the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners in China. He has also carried out a number of ‘fact-finding’ trips including to Urumqi in order to investigate the alleged persecution of Christians and other minorities. His law firm was closed down in November 2005 and shortly afterwards his personal permit to practice law was revoked. The Special Rapporteur met with Gao Zhisheng on the evening of 20 November. Gao Zhisheng reported that on his way to the meeting he was followed by three cars that attempted to obstruct him from meeting the Special Rapporteur. Photographs provided by Gao Zhisheng indicate scratches on both sides of his car where the police cars collided with. His wife reported that during the visit of the Special Rapporteur there were five cars outside his house 24 hours a day and that three agents were following his child to school and back every day. During the meeting with the Special Rapporteur, he noted that he and his team were being heavily monitored by intelligence officers with portable listening devices and cameras from an adjacent table. When he approached them the three officers become irate, and the meeting with Mr. Gao was continued elsewhere. The Special Rapporteur protested to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the following day. 3. An urgent action was sent out on 26 November 2005 in relation to the above events. On 21 December 2005 the Special Rapporteur on Torture submitted to the PRC a letter of allegation in relation to a decision to close down the legal practice of Mr Gao Zhisheng. No response has been received to either of the above communications to date. The Special Rapporteur continues to receive worrying allegations concerning the situation of this person including the following; that on 13 January 2006 Gao Zhisheng was beaten by plain-clothes officers after he tried to protest against aggressive surveillance and that, on the night of 17 January 2006, cars he believes belong to the security services attempted to run him down. 4. Yao Fusing, aged 55, worker’s representative. (Interviewed out on 22 November 2005 with his wife Guo Sujing in Beijing). He was arrested on 17 March 2002 but officially taken into custody on 29 March 2002. During his interrogation in Tialing Detention Centre, 17-21 March 2002, he was handcuffed and shackled to the floor. In Liaoying pretrial detention centre he was not given a quilt during cold weather even though he suffers from coronary heart