Chinese House Church Leaders First Time Testify at UN, Video Testimony from Tortured Women Believers Released [China Aid]

Cao Hongmei testimony:

“They questioned me for about a month. When I didn’t answer them, they would use different kinds of ways to torture me. For instance, they hung my two hands up on the door frame, and my feet couldn’t touch the floor. My hands and shoulder became numb. They used a sharpened bamboo stick to beat my hands and shoulder. I couldn’t bear this tremendous pain any more so I began to scream, but they didn’t allow me to do so. They threatened me, “If you keep on shouting, we will stuff your mouth and make you shut up.” Every time they hung me, it would last at least half an hour, sometimes even one hour. All together, they have hung me about a whole day.

They also threatened me, saying, “We can beat you to death, and throw you into the Han River, or dig a hole somewhere to bury you. Who will question us about that? You count for nothing. They went on to say, “Don’t you know? A South China Church believer has been beaten to death by the police in Zhong Xiang, just because she kept silent and didn’t confess. After her death, nobody has come to us asking for an account. So we also can beat you to death, because you little believers count for nothing.”
All they wanted from me was a false testimony. They said, “If you just confess according to what we tell you, I will release you and let you go.”

I kept silent. They saw this didn’t work, so they tried another way to torture me. They used handcuffs to pound my fingers. One of them would hold my elbow, and the other one used a pair of handcuffs to hammer my fingers. My fingers began to bleed and my fingernails began to break but they were not fully satisfied. Then they used a cigarette lighter to burn my fingers. All my fingernails had been burned, and you still can see the scars here. My middle fingernail was totally broken, and this is the newly grown one.
Not only did they burn my fingernails, they also use the lighter to burn my ears, my face, and my lips. They used all these tortures forcing me to confess that I had sexual relationship with Pastor Gong Shengliang.
[full story including two more testimonies]

www.chinaaid.org

10:16:54 PM    comments []

Karen women shatter silence on military rape in Burma

Breaking a culture of silence on sexual violence, the Karen Women's
Organisation is releasing today a report documenting the systematic use of
rape as a weapon of war by the Burmese military regime in Karen State.

The report Shattering Silences, documents 125 cases of sexual violence
committed by the regime's troops in Karen State from 1988 until 2004. Half of the rapes were committed by military officers; 40% were gang-rape.  In 28% of the cases, the women were killed after being raped.

The pattern of sexual violence has continued during 2004, despite the
truce declared during the ongoing ceasefire negotiations between the
regime and the Karen National Union.  This is highlighting concerns about
the safety of refugees who may be repatriated prematurely after a
ceasefire agreement.

"How can we believe that the regime is trying to bring about peace and
democracy in Burma, when their troops continue to commit rape with
impunity?" said Naw Zipporah Sein, KWO Secretary. "There must genuine
political reform and a complete withdrawal of troops from Karen State
before women will feel safe to return."

The report can be viewed at: www.womenofburma.org or download
"Shattering Silences" in PDF format documenting sexual violence committed by the Burmese military regime in Karen State. Word doc.here

9:55:20 PM    comments []