News and Events Around the World -- October 8, 2005

Issued by Clearwisdom Net

On August 27, 2004, Mr. Leandro Despouy, Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, sent an allegation letter concerning the situation of Wei Jun, an attorney from the Baicheng law firm in Baise city, Guangxi province, who had allegedly been threatened and harassed for defending Liang Changying, a Falun Gong practitioner.

Attorney Wei was threatened and harassed for defending practitioner Liang Changying. Ms. Liang was sentenced to 5 ½ years in prison. After the court adjourned, the public prosecutor allegedly asked about the existence of a regulation stating that lawyers cannot defend Falun Gong practitioners who plead "not guilty". The same day Mr. Wei's home phone, cell phone and office phone were put under surveillance, and several days later police officers asked the Judiciary Bureau to suspend Mr. Wei's license to practice law and to sentence him to three years of forced labor. After the director of the Judiciary Bureau refused their request, the police reportedly warned Mr. Wei that in the future he would not be allowed to defend Falun Gong practitioners, and confiscated all of his materials regarding Ms. Liang's case.

On October 15, 2004 the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Special

Rapporteur on the question of torture, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, the Special Rapporteur on the right to everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, to express their concern at reports of systemic repression against the Falun Gong.

Over the past five years, hundreds of cases of alleged violations of the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners have been brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteurs. Many of these allegations have been reported back to the Chinese authorities and are reflected in reports of the Special Rapporteurs to the Commission on Human Rights. The Special Rapporteurs are concerned that reports of arrest, detention, ill-treatment, torture, denial of adequate medical treatment, sexual violence, deaths, and unfair trial of Falun Gong practitioners are increasing. They expressed concern that these allegations may reflect a deliberate and institutionalized policy by the authorities to target specific groups such as the Falun Gong.

An analysis of reports indicates that the alleged human rights violations against Falun Gong practitioners, including systematic arrest and detention, are part of a pattern of repression against members of this group. Most of those arrested are reportedly heavily fined and released, but many are detained and ill treated in order to force them to formally renounce Falun Gong. Those who refuse are sent to re-education through labor camps, where torture is reportedly used routinely and in many cases has resulted in death. When charges are laid they reportedly include allegations such as "disturbing social order", "assembling to disrupt public order", "stealing or leaking State secrets", or "using a heretical organization to undermine the law."

According to the information received, those prosecuted have been unfairly tried and many have received lengthy prison sentences. In this respect it is reported that on 5 November 1999, a notice issued by the Supreme People's Court instructed all local courts to do their "'political duty"' in bringing to trial and punishing "severely" those charged with "organization crimes", "particularly Falun Gong", and to handle these cases "under the leadership of the Party committees".

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers is available at http://www.falunhr.org/reports/UN2005/lawyer_chn.pdf

To rescue Falun Gong children being persecuted in China, a group of students ranging in age from 5 to 19 held a four-day car tour during school break. Before the tour, the students held a press conference in front of the Chinese Consulate in Sydney on October 4, 2005. The tour is scheduled to stop at 8 cities to help local media and government organizations know the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong in China and call for attention from Australian society to help stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

During the press conference, some representatives of the car tour narrated their experience in the cultivation of Falun Gong to the media and public, and exposed the persecution of Falun Gong in China and the difficult lives of child practitioners due to the persecution.

He Yi, 15 years old, He Xu, 13 years old, and He Yue, 11 years old, are from the same family. They said in their speeches, "In China, the Falun Gong children are of similar ages as us. Some are even younger. We can imagine their suffering and think we have the obligation to help them study normally and practice freely. At the same time, we hope they can live free and happy lives like us."

Yan Wanying, a 16-year-old girl, said that she had practiced Falun Gong since she was seven. She followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be a good student at school and a good child at home. She had a happy life. However, since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s persecution of Falun Gong, her whole family has been on the Chinese Consulate's blacklist and cannot return to China. In China, she has many relatives, including an aunt who was unlawfully sentenced to 3 years at a forced labor camp. Her grandmother was persecuted too and later became a refugee in Australia. She said she would like to help more Australian people learn about the brutality of the persecution and help those orphaned Falun Gong children.

Xu Yang, 17 years old, one of the organizers, said that as a result of the brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China, over the past six years, more than 2700 practitioners are known to have lost their lives, leaving behind innocent children of all ages who are now orphaned or semi-orphaned. No welfare system exists for these children and their lives are in jeopardy every day.

Xu Yang said, "We can speak for them in Australia and help them. We want to help people understand how much the children are suffering. Because of the CCP's cover up, Australians do not know the brutality of the persecution. Thus we'd like to speak out clearly so that more people will know the facts and help the children by stopping the persecution."

Lisa, the driver and caretaker of the young practitioners in the tour, said that there were two vehicles for the tour. Ten young practitioners participated with their own money or funds from their parents. Some children contributed their allowance money. She further said that the tour would be difficult in some areas, but the children were prepared. They hoped through their own efforts to help rescue the orphaned Falun Gong children in China.

In the past two months, the "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" Art Exhibition has made a successful tour in the Jakarta area. Out of the many exhibits held at different locations, from September 26 to October 2, the one at an international shopping center was the biggest success.

Teaching the Falun Gong exercises

Residents attentively study the paintings

A corner of the exhibition

Residents attentively study the paintings

During the exhibition, a "Call to Stop the Persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party" signature campaign was carried out and received positive response from the visitors.

One visitor said: "I agree that the human rights situation in China is very bad. I am a businessman and I know that everything is carefully arranged by CCP to cover it up. However, they can't hide the reality of the worst human rights abuses. I of course support your human rights appeal." He was very happy to sign the petition.

A mother came with her young daughter. After viewing the exhibition, the mother said: "I told my daughter that the reason a government has used such brutal torture methods against its citizens is that it wants to cover up its dark side. Otherwise, civilians have no reason to be deprived of freedom of speech. This exhibition will help my daughter to improve her ability to judge what is good and what is bad." The mother also signed the petition.

After hearing a staff member say that signature campaigns to stop the persecution have been held worldwide, he asked: "Do we have one here?" When he was shown to the petition table, he signed his name right away.

After having heard an introduction of Falun Gong, a lady said: "I want to practice, how much do I need to pay?" When she was told that practitioners always teach the exercises for free, she was even more touched and said that it was a miracle in this modern age that an upright practice with no charge is still available.

When the Falun Gong Exercises Instruction Video was playing, a gentleman was drawn by the sight of Master Li teaching the exercises, and he watched the tape for several hours. He said that it was the Master Buddha who was teaching the exercises. He learned the exercises at the exhibition site. A staff member at the exhibition said that many people were coming to learn Falun Gong.

At the stairway entrance, several staff members were distributing Falun Gong materials. They said that many people who accepted the materials came back later from the exhibition site to tell them how much they had looked forward to learning Falun Gong.