E/CN.4/2006/5/Add.1 Page 25 (Regional Autonomy) Act, the Compulsory Education Act, the Labour Code and other laws all contain legal provisions upholding citizens’ freedom of religious belief and prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of a person’s religious beliefs or lack of religious beliefs. The (Tibetan Buddhist ed.) religious community is protected under the Constitution and the law and enjoys full freedom to conduct normal religious activities. At the current time, there are some 120,000 lamas and nuns, 1,700 living Buddhas and 3,000 lamaseries in the Tibetan Buddhist community in China. 98. The notion of the reincarnation of the living Buddha is a special tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, and over the last few hundred years a fairly comprehensive method and procedure have been develope d for the reincarnation of the living Buddha: where the issue of the reincarnation of the major living Buddhas is concerned the central Government fully respects the traditional Tibetan Buddhist ritual. In accordance with religious ritual and historical precept, following the drawing of lots from a golden urn, due endorsement by the Chinese central Government, the fully satisfactory performance of the enthronement ritual and the so-called “sitting-on-thebed” ceremony, the eleventh Panchen Lama has been reverentially accepted by the wide community of Tibetan Buddhist lamas and by the Buddhist congregation. Communication sent on 13 September 2005 with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences 99. The Special Rapporteurs brought the two following cases to the attention of the Government: On 21 May 2002, police officers from the Zhonggong police station arrested Ms. Ren Shujie , 42, living in the Tiexi District, Shengyang City, Liaoning Province, for practicing Falun Gong. She was later sentenced to three years of forced labour and was detained at the Longshan Labour Camp. No charges were brought against her and she was provided no hearing before a court of law. She went on hunger strike for 64 days, during which time she was subjected to torture and harsh labour for fifteen hours daily. After bringing an end to her hunger strike she continued to be tortured by the prison guards, including Tang Yubao, who subjected her to electric shocks. On 22 March 2004, she was transferred to Masanjia Labour Camp where she was forced to sleep on cement floors for three months. She was released on 24 December 2004, due to her extremely weak conditions, weighing less than 40 kg, whereas at the time of her arrest she weighed 80 kg. The several complaints that Ren Shujie made to the prison guards, who were the only authorities she had access to, provided no response or amelioration to her conditions of detention. On 21 January 2000, Ms. Liu Yunxiang, aged 32, living in Yangjiazhuang village in Junbukou Township was arrested by police officers belonging to the Junbukou Township of Weifang City in Shandong province, for practicing Falun Gong. No charges were brought against her and she was provided no hearing before a court of law. She was subjected to severe beatings, and the men who were also arrested with her were forced to beat her and the other arrested women on their hips. During her detention, she was forced to curse the founder of Falun Gong, drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes, which is