Zhao

I. BACKGROUND

Zhao and Duan began their practice of Falun Gong some- time before 1999, after deciding that it could improve their health.1 In July 1999, the Chinese government declared Falun Gong to be an illegal religious cult and launched a campaign of arrest and abuse against its practitioners. The couple then stopped practicing Falun Gong in public, but continued their practice in private.

On the evening of July 17, 2001, four police officers entered Zhao and Duan’s home while they were practicing Falun Gong with two other practitioners. The police arrested them and took them to a police station, where they were detained for four days.

The police interrogated Zhao and Duan twice during their detention, each time separately. During the first interrogation, Zhao and Duan both refused to answer some questions and were forced to stand up straight and still for about thirty min- utes. During Zhao’s second interrogation, the police told Zhao to “beat” himself. When he refused to do so, a police officer slapped him in the face twice and punched him on the chest. The punch made him fall and hit his head against the wall, causing him “severe pain” and dizziness for which he later…