`Magic healer' throws a fit during court hearing

Zhang Ying (張穎), a self-proclaimed magic healer from China, threw a fit after Taipei District Court Judge Huang Shao-hung (黃紹紘) once again denied her the permission to leave the country.

"I came on a four-day stay. I've been held for half a year. Doesn't Taiwan have human rights?" exclaimed Zhang, who is seven months pregnant.

In response to the decision, Zhang screamed and violently threw herself against a wall. Finally, she appeared to have a seizure, foaming at the mouth and her eyes rolling back into her head. She was tied down and sent to Taipei Municipal Women and Children's Hospital.

In April the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office indicted Zhang for using trickery to deceive six people and for receiving compensation for the unlawful practice. She was then barred from leaving the country.

On May 9, Huang denied Zhang's request to go to the US, saying the ban must be upheld in order to guarantee her presence at her trial, after which Zhang broke down in tears.

"My baby is due in mid-August. I don't know if I can survive until then," sobbed Zhang.

Zhang's husband, a Taiwanese, is currently living in the US.

Zhang came to the public's attention in January when she demonstrated in front of television cameras what she claimed was her "miraculous power" to diagnose a person's illness and then "snatch medicine pills out of thin air" that could supposedly cure the illness.

However, a local magician, also in front of television cameras, exposed her "miraculous power" as mere sleight of hand.

The Taipei District Prosecutors' Office indicted Zhang for fraud and practising medicine without a license and slapped a travel ban on her.

Hsieh Szu-tao (謝斯陶), a Taiwanese friend of Zhang's, was also indicted for allegedly assisting Zhang in her illegal practice. Zhang said during her May 9 hearing that she had planned to have her baby in the US, where her family resides.

Those plans, however, have now been hampered by the ban on her departure.

Zhang insisted that that the "magic pills" were her friend's idea. She said she only wanted to use her magical power to help the ailing and didn't earn a cent.

Her second attempt to have the travel ban removed involved the claim that a mysterious "white-bearded old man" had given her the pills.

Yesterday, Huang held another hearing at the Taipei District Court to investigate the 38-year-old's claim.

After listening to Zhang's claims, the judge dismissed them as "ridiculous" and decided that the ban still stands.

"If I can't leave the country, I might as well kill myself," screamed Zhang hysterically after the hearing.