Two middle-aged women who refused to disown the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual group have died in police custody in China, the group said yesterday.
The women, Liu Lanxiang (40) and Wang Aijuan (43) were detained at separate police centres and died after being beaten and tortured, the group said in a press statement sent to Beijing.
Liu, who was arrested in connection with a number of Falun Gong flyers and posters being posted around the northern city of Lanzhou, was beaten and tortured frequently while being held at a detention centre, the statement said. Wang died a few days after she was arrested on April 2nd while she and other practitioners were putting up a banner calling for an end to the government's ban on Falun Gong, the statement said.