A/HRC/4/21/Add.1 page 23 was one of the first States to become party to the Convention against Torture. It upholds the prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and has adopted many specific measures under domestic law. In handling the case in question, the relevant Chinese Government departments abided strictly by their treaty obligations and proceeded in accordance with domestic law. There was no instance of torture or ill-treatment. 79. The Chinese Government has always taken great care to safeguard the legitimate rights of convicts and detainees. The Prisons Act and the Remand Facility Regulations cover all aspects of the protection of offenders’ and detainees’ rights including their right to security of the person, lawful possessions, health protection and education, and their rights to a defence, to appeal, to lodge complaints and report matters to the authorities, and such other rights as have not been restricted or taken from them by law. All legitimate rights of Zhang Rongliang have been safeguarded, and it is not true that when he fell ill he was refused medical treatment. Observations 80. The Special Rapporteur is grateful for the Government’s reply. She would like to make reference to the report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak, of his mission to China from 20 November to 2 December 2005 (E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6, para. 81): “In the opinion of the Special Rapporteur, the combination of deprivation of liberty as a sanction for the peaceful exercise of freedom of expression, assembly and religion, with measures of re-education through coercion, humiliation and punishment aimed at admission of culpability and altering the personality of detainees up to the point of even breaking their will, strike at the very core of the human right to personal integrity, dignity and humanity. It constitutes a form of inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment leading to submissiveness and a ‘culture of fear’, which is incompatible with the core values of any democratic society based upon a culture of human rights.” Urgent appeal sent on 13 September 2005 jointly with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences 81. 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, aged 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. 82. 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