Two human rights are believed to be the latest victims of China's crackdown on Christians and other dissidents after a charity claims they were tortured in custody.
Li Heping and another lawyer, Wang Quanzhang, were electrocuted several times with electric batons during their first six months in prison, according to the charity China Aid.
They were initially arrested on January 20 2016 for "subverting state power" and remains incarcerated at the Tianjin Municipal Detention Center No. 1.
Li's wife told the watchdog he fainted several times due to the severity of the attacks.
Beijing reportedly considers the human rights attorney to be "more dangerous than Bin Laden", according to the Guardian
"Chinese say that they are living inside a prison," he said before his arrest. "If you are detained, you are in a smaller prison. If you are released, you are in a bigger prison."
The emergence of torture by the Chinese regime comes as part of a wider trend attacking Christians, pastors and churchgoers, as well as lawyers.
Zhang Xiuhong, a deacon at the Guiyang Huoshi Church in Guizhou province, was detained by local police in July 2015, according to China Christian Daily.
Last month Pastor Yang Hua, also known as Li Guozhi, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for "divulging state secrets" after he tried to stop officials confiscating his church computer files.
He has also been tortured, according to a local news site.
