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7.1.24 Truth behind the story that a Fujian youth became insane “from practicing Falun Gong”
Message received: October 28, 1999
Source of news: www.minghui.ca
Title of the article: Paper Cannot Contain Fire, Lies Cannot Conceal Truth -- Truth behind the Story that a Fujian Youth Became Insane “for Practicing Falun Gong”
Description:
On October 28, the front-page top story of the Qiaobao (Overseas Chinese Journal sponsored by Chinese government) was headlined by “A Fujian Youth Became Insane After Practicing Falun Gong in the United States.”
The youth whose last name is Lin is currently receiving residential treatment in a New York hospital and is not possible to receive visitors. On the morning of the 29th, the interviewers eventually found Mr. Wang, the uncle of the youth Mr. Lin, in the Midtown of Manhattan. Through personal conversation, we found there was indeed a huge gap between the facts and what it was reported on Qiaobao (the Overseas Chinese Journal sponsored by Chinese government).
In the interview, Mr. Wang, the uncle of the youth Mr. Lin, told us that his nephew came to the States through illegal channels from Changle, Fujian, China. Since he came to the States, Mr. Lin has been working in a restaurant in Florida so as to pay back the $50,000 debt incurred in his illegal immigration. Each month Mr. Lin has little pocket money and a few days off. Until now, only half of his debt has been paid. Being burdened with heavy workload and missing his wife and daughter who are both in the mainland China, Mr. Lin felt strong mental and physical pressure. In addition, a year and a half ago, he began constantly suffering from sudden and severe pains in the waist. Since he does not have legal residential status and cannot afford the expensive medical treatment, Mr. Lin has never visited the doctor for treatment. Then his coworker in the restaurant who came from Sichuan province taught him a kind of Qigong (Qigong is a terminology for exercises of energy; there are many types of it.). Since then, Mr. Lin often talked irrationally. For instance, he often says that he is “capable of curing illnesses.”
It became clear that Mr. Lin is not a Falun Gong practitioner. Falun Gong strictly prohibits treating illnesses with Qigong. Falun Gong practitioners would not think about curing illnesses with supernatural capabilities or even mention it.
For example, when Mr. Wang mentioned that his nephew came to his home when he was off, we asked if he saw his nephew ever read books on Falun Gong. Mr. Wang replied because his nephew is busy working for money, he does not read any books. He has not seen the nephew read Falun Gong books or carrying Falun Gong books. When he was asked if he has seen him practicing Qigong and what kind movement his nephew does, Mr. Wang said he has never seen him practicing. Instead, each time his nephew only came back to enjoy food and drink with him. He also told us that his nephew drinks a lot.
Falun Gong emphasizes on Xinxing (virtue and moral character) cultivation. Practitioners of Falun Gong would carry and read the book Zhuan Falun, because the more you read it, the more you understand and the more you benefit. Practitioners can always get guidance for further cultivation. Master Li also has repeatedly emphasized the importance and necessity of Falun Gong cultivation, “Study the Fa and cultivate the mind, and supplement with exercises.” If one does not read Zhuan Falun, nor does he practice the exercises, then he can never be considered a true Falun Gong practitioner, even if he claims to be one. In addition, practicing the five sets of Falun Gong exercises gives practitioners comfort in mind and body. There is no restriction about the location and time for the exercises, therefore Falun Gong practitioners will always spare some time for the practice, no matter how busy they are. As to alcohol drinking, Falun Gong talks about purifying the mind and body. No matter how long one has the history of smoking and drinking, once you begin to truly cultivate Falun Gong you will not touch cigarettes or alcohol, and you will naturally give it up. Detailed principles and reasoning are fully and clearly presented in the book Zhuan Falun. For sake of space, we will not repeat it here.
We also learned why Mr. Lin suddenly went mad. The reason is he was fired as he was arguing with his coworker in the Florida restaurant. Regarding his current economic conditions, his health situation and his illegal immigration status, losing his job is indeed not a trifle for him. Now Chinese consuls and Qiaobao spoke irresponsibly that this youth became insane as a result of practicing Falun Gong.
Mr. Wang then told us that the reason that his nephew’s insanity became the news was due to his neighbor. A man, who claimed to be democratic, took pity on them and thought that he could not afford the expensive medical treatment, advised him make it known to the public through newspapers, attracting concerns of the society and financial support as well. Unexpectedly, as soon as the news came out, the Chinese consuls and Qiaobao exploited the news to attack and defame Falun Gong. Even reporters from mainland China’s CCTV have interviewed Mr. Wang. However, what CCTV reported is, even Mr. Wang said, different from what he told the reporters. Mr. Wang said only 10% of their reports is believable.
7.1.25 Practitioners are forced to watch TV programs and newspapers full of fabricated slanders against Falun Dafa
Message received: October 26, 1999
Victim: Wang Yan, female, 56 years of age. Address: LiuWeiJiuZu, Fuzhen Street, Liaoyuan, Jilin Province.
Location of incident: Liaoyuan, Jilin Province, China
Description:
On July 21, I was intercepted by some policemen at the Liaoyuan Train Station when I was trying to go to Beijing to appeal. On the second day, I went to Beijing to appeal but I was caught by the policemen at Shanhaiguan, and was detained there for a night. On July 23, I was first sent to Jinzhou, and then Liaoyuan, and detained in the Fuzhen Detention Center. On that night, the police ransacked my home, and took away many materials of Falun Dafa. Later they transferred me to the street office where they forced us to watch TV programs and newspapers full of fabricated slander about Falun Dafa. They watched on me closely, and forced me to write a statement of guarantee promising that I would give up Falun Gong and would not go to appeal again. I refused to do that. They then beat me up and swore at me. Under the torture, I wrote the statement of guarantee that I would not go to appeal again. They then forced me to write the statement of guarantee promising that I would give up Falun Gong. I refused to do that. They could not do anything to me. Later, I found another opportunity to come to Beijing to appeal.
7.1.26 The president labels Falun Gong before the People Committee’s Meeting
Message received: October 25, 1999
Victims: all Falun Gong practitioners
Source of news: Le Figaro, France
Description:
Before President Jiang Zemin started his official visit to France, he accepted a written interview of the editorial committee president of the French newspaper Le Figaro and claimed that Falun Gong was “evil cult” in his answer.
7.1.27 Once a label of “evil” is put on, arbitrary attack can follow regardless of the truth
Message received: October 23, 1999
Victims: all Falun Gong practitioners
Location of incident: China
Description:
Recently Falun Gong was declared as “evil cult” in one commentator article from the journal of Liaowang. The article also claimed that the crackdown of Falun Gong has helped Falun Gong practitioners give up Falun Gong and return to a scientific and healthy life path. This article claimed Falun Gong is similar to notorious groups like the Branch Davidians in the United States, and Aum Shinrikyo in Japan, etc and attempted to give readers a bad prejudice about Falun Gong upon reading. (from Chinesenewsnet - www.duoweinews.net report, “Jiang Zemin, Falun Gong is “cult” )
7.1.28 An embarrassing gift from the president
Message received: September 18, 1999
Victims: All Falun Gong practitioners
Location of incident: Auckland, New Zealand
Description:
During the APEC leader summit, President Jiang Zemin gave President Clinton an unusual gift: the newly published book titled “Li Hongzhi and His ‘Falun Gong:’ Deceiving the Public and Ruining Lives”. All people that have experienced the political movements of China mainland all know that every time one political movement comes out, the first thing for the Chinese Central propaganda Department to do is to organize some materials to pass on to all working units for their political study. Hu Feng and Di Ling in 50’s, the Sanjia Village in 60’s and Lin Biao as well as the “Four People Gang” in 70’s are all such examples without exception. Whoever is attacked, surely there will come out some books of collections of that person’s anti-communist party speeches. The book of “Li Hongzhi and His ‘Falun Gong:’ Deceiving the Public and Ruining Lives” is just another such example as those propaganda materials in all past political movements.
What is interesting is that Jiang gave such propaganda material to President Clinton as a national present at such a period when the Sino-US relationship is very delicate.
(Article from Commentator of Liaowang Magazine)
“President Jiang Zemin made himself a fool by sending president Clinton a gift to show some propaganda materials with bloody contents” (from newspaper World Daily report)
7.1.29 Masses were used for “educating and transforming” Falun Gong practitioner
Date: August 31, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, News Roundup, Page 4
Title of the article: Shanxi Province uses “one-help-one” and “ many-help-one” methods to fulfill its system of responsibility of “educating and transforming” Falun Gong practitioners.
Description:
XIAN (Reporters: Meng Xian and Zheng Shaozhong) Through educating and transforming “Falun Gong” practitioners who are communist party members and senior intellectuals, Shanxi Province has vigorously promoted its further struggle with “Falun Gong”. Up to now, there are a small number of communist party members and senior intellectuals who practice “Falun Gong”. Because of their official positions and popularity, they have influenced many people. The party committee of Shanxi province believes that it is extremely important to educate and transform these people during the course of fighting for people’s hearts with “Falun Gong”. After the “4.25” incident, the party committee and the government of the province quickly found out the situation of the local “Falun Gong” organizations in the province, and the positions held by their communist party members and senior intellectuals. They started to work on these people and successfully prevented a few large-scale “Falun Gong” gatherings scheduled in Xian.
As the whole nation is exposing and criticizing “Falun Gong”, the party committee of Shanxi province demanded each party branch to assign officials who are good at political and ideological work to organize “help-andeducation” groups for key practitioners. The “one-help-one” and “many-help-one” method was used to fulfill its system of responsibility.
7.1.30 Communist Party played a key role in transforming work
Date: August 26, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, News Roundup, Page 4
Tittle of the article: A communist party committee from a mountain township sees earlier and acts faster---onthe-spot report: the Party committee of the mountain township, Gaoan city, Jiangxi province fight against “Falun Gong”.
7.1.31 Nation-wide emergency meeting called to adopt even tougher measures
Message received: August 19, 1999
Source of news: www.minghui.ca
Description:
Chinese government held nationwide emergency meetings on August 17th. In the meetings, Falun Gong practitioners were escalated from “illegal organization” to “anti Communist Party, anti-government organization”. Decision was made that beginning on August 17th, the government would adopt high-handed measures that would be even tougher.
A reliable source states that the government will start with the Communist Party members. For those who refuse to give written promises to quit practicing Falun Gong, more high-handed measures will be used. The government thinks these practitioners will “rebound” to fight back.
7.1.32 Story fabricated by an employee from a TV station
Message received: August 15, 1999
Source of news: www.minghui.ca
Location of incident: Beijing, China
Description:
One day after July 22, (maybe 25th), an employee in a cable TV station went to a hospital and found a patient. He gave the patient a note and asked him to memorize it. The note stated that his health deteriorated after his practice of Falun Gong. The patient said that he knew nothing about Falun Gong. The employee from TV station said, “It doesn’t matter, just say what the note says.” Later on, since the patient was too stiff with his recitation, he was asked to say in his own words to be video taped.
7.1.33 Videotape modified; facts denied to incriminate Falun Gong and Mr. Li Hongzhi
Message received: August 12, 1999
Victims: All Falun Gong practitioners in China
Location of incident: China
Description:
The Chinese Central TV Station (CCTV) repeatedly broadcasted the videotape about the “truth” of Zhongnanhai event on April 25, 1999. Members of former Beijing Falun Dafa association, Mr. Li Chang, Wang Zhiwen, Ji Liewu show up in the program. The voice of Mr. Ji Liewu was obviously handled by some voice processing software, especially that part in which the name of Master Li Hongzhi was mentioned. The shape of Ji’s mouth was inconsistent with the broadcasted speech and the speech was not continuous. It obviously had been edited.
There are other ridiculous parts in the video tape: Some section chief of Tianjin police station swore an oath in all solemnity in front of the reporter’s micro-phone that “ Tianjin police did not arrest anybody. No Falun Gong practitioner has been arrested in Tianjin”. Over 1000 Falun Gong practitioners that participated the appealing in Tianjin City and all Falun Gong practitioners that have been to the Chinese central administrative government in Beijing to appeal on April 25 all knew that even riot police have been dispatched in Tianjin. Over 40 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested before April 24. They were not released until April 25. The articles written by those arrested practitioners can prove this.
7.1.34 The responsible persons of one’s work unit, relatives and good friends are all used to put pressure on Falun Gong practitioners
Date: August 7, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, News Roundup, Page 2
Title of the article: Educating and transforming Falun Gong practitioners in Zhoukou area, Henan Province
Description:
Dai Peng reported from Zhengzhou on August 6th that Zhoukou district, Henan province is one of the areas that are severely influenced by “Falun Gong”. After fundamentally destroying the leadership of “Falun Gong” and its organization, they used the strategy of “finding one accurate spot and ‘eliminate the swell over a large area”. They took advantage of the transformation of the key practitioners who have influence, to speed up the transformation of the thoughts of most practitioners. This resulted in quicker transformation and more stable “healing” effects.
The director of “Falun Gong” assistant center in that area gathered people to go to Zhengzhou to protest on July 22nd and was blocked. She did not want to change plans and showed a very strong resistance. The members from the local leading group dealing with “Falun Gong” problems arranged the responsible persons of her work unit, relatives and good friends to give her re-education to make her completely change her mind.
7.1.35 Everybody should step out to criticize Falun Gong - see from some articles in People’s Daily
Date: August 6, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, News Roundup, Page 3
Title of the article: Sports personnel should stand in the frontier of opposing “Falun Gong”
Date: August 4, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, Important news, Page 4
Title of the article: The social science circles in the Capital holding academic conference to further expose and criticize “Falun Gong”
Date: August 3, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, Headline News Page 1
Title of the article: The working class should stand in the forefront in the struggle of exposing and criticizing “Falun Gong”
7.1.36 Bold bookstore owner selling Falun Gong books was punished
Date: August 2, 1999
Newspaper: Guangming Daily
Description:
As “ Falun Gong” is being further criticized across the country, “Falun Gong” books are still being sold in “Teacher Wu’s Bookstore”. The local authorities acted promptly, searched the bookstore and the owner’s home and confiscated the “Falun Gong” books, audios and videos in the store. According to the store owner, Wu Chengchu, since October 1998, he has bought over 6,000 “Falun Gong” books from Changsha, Wuhan, and Jinan, and sold them to the “Falun Gong” practitioners. Wu has already been detained by the local police. On July 27, the departments concerned in Xiangtan launched a joint operation and searched 289 bookstores, newspaper stands, audio and video stores, and printing factories all over the city, and confiscated over 4,000 “Falun Gong” books, and 1,000 sets of audio and video products.
7.1.37 Forced to attend “brainwash class”
Message received: July 29, 1999
Victim: Han Yuejuan, female, Chief of Theory Section, Publicity department of the Chinese Communist party at Dongshang district in Guangzhou.
Location of incident: Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
Description:
Since police station Dongshang district branch arrested Ms. Han on July 22, they claimed she was the leader of Falun Gong and required her to admit that she had organized Falun Gong practitioners to appeal to the Chinese government. Ms. Han didn’t give up. Instead, she listed all their actions that violate the law. Shortly after Ms. Han was released, the police of Guangzhou ordered her to go back and she hasn’t been detained since then. Many veteran Falun Gong practitioners in Guangzhou are required to attend the “brainwash class”. They are forced to watch those fabricated videotapes everyday and to write pledges to quit Falun Gong. Those who refuse to write pledges will suffer from inhuman treatments.
7.1.38 People urged to “step out to expose and sue Falun Gong”
Message received: July 27, 1999
Source of news: www.minghui.ca
Description:
In China, TV stations attacked and insulted Falun Gong without any restrain. They urged people to “step out to expose and sue Falun Gong”, and continued with the game of displaying false evidences.
Also, when Chinese government is confiscating Falun Gong books, many practitioners risked their lives to keep their books in order to continue their cultivation.
7.1.39 Re-education and transformation - Key Falun Gong practitioners were forced to watch TV, listen to the radio, and read newspapers, . . .
Date: July 27, 1999
Newspaper: People’s Daily, News Roundup, Page 4
Title of the article: Shandong doing well in “educating” and transforming key Falun Gong practitioners
Description:
Liu Lei reported in Jinan on July 26: Provincial Party committee and organizations of all levels in Shandong seriously implemented the Central Party Committee’s important policy regarding solving the problem of “Falun Gong”. They strengthened the ideological education on “Falun Gong” practitioners and especially did well in educating and transforming key “Falun Gong” practitioners. This has driven and affected a large number of practitioners to quit the “Falun Gong” organization, and accelerated the destruction of the “Falun Gong” organization.
The former director and vice director of the “Falun Gong” general assistant center in Jinan have believed in and practiced “Falun Gong” for several years, Provincial Party committee in Shandong conducted special ideological education for these key practitioners, which urged them to change their thoughts. The secretary of the provincial party committee Wu Guanzheng arranged and directed in person the face-to-face communication with several key practitioners and educated them. They made the key “Falun Gong” practitioners watch TV, listen to the radio, read newspapers, and repeatedly explained to them the instructions from the Central Party Committee. In the mean time, they distinguished different cases, strictly grasped the policy, and urged them to continuously further their understanding of the instructions from the Central Party Committee as well as the severity of their own problem.
7.1.40 News and media departments in Beijing were ready to attack
Date: July 25, 1999
Newspaper: Important New Page 2, People’s Daily
Title of the article: News and Media in Capital Held Forum to Enhance the Propaganda Campaign Against Falun Dafa
Description:
According to People’s Daily in Beijing on July 25, In today’s forum criticizing Falun Gong, held by the Circles of the news and media in the Capital, participants strong-ly supported the decision of the Party and the Government. As news and media, we must not only have clear eyes and mind, but also act to enhance the propaganda power against Falun Gong, and to assume responsibility as the guiding role in this serious political struggle.
7.2 Foreign Journalists and Reporters Threatened and Harassed as a Result of Falun Gong Coverage
7.2.1 Chinese authorities warned journalists from international news agencies not to report on Falun Gong spiritual movement
Victims: Foreign journalists in China
Source of news: ABCNEWS.com, November 11, 1999
Description:
“Chinese authorities have been warning journalists from international news organizations to stop reporting on the Falun Gong spiritual movement. The Foreign Ministry reportedly called in representatives from Reuters on Wednesday, The Associated Press and AP Television today, and has asked to speak with CNN on Friday and The New York Times on Saturday.” (ABCNEWS.com, 11/11/99)
7.2.2 Journalists threatened, detained and working permits taken away for reporting Falun Gong
Victims: Foreign journalists in Beijing
Source of news: Associated Press November2, 1999
Location of incident: Beijing, China
Description:
October 28, Beijing. Although being intensely monitored, about 36 Falun Gong practitioners were able to invite some foreign reporters to attend a secret news release conference. It was reported that AP, Reuters, AFP, New York Times and other news agencies attended the press conference. This courageous act of Falun Gong practitioners has been widely reported internationally.
“Police in Beijing questioned at least five foreign reporters who attended a clandestinely held Falun Gong news conference last week. Police took away journalism and residence permits required for working in China. At least one reporter was threatened with unspecified consequences if he contacts Falun Gong members again.”(By John Leicester, Associated Press November2, 1999)
7.2.3 Foreign journalists protest harassment in China because of the reporting of Falun Gong
Victims: Foreign journalists
Source of news: Reuters, Dow Jones Interactive Publications Library
Location of incident: Beijing, China
Description:
BEIJING, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China issued a protest on Wednesday against what it called official “intimidation and harassment” linked to coverage of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
“Our members have been followed, detained, interrogated and threatened,” said a letter sent to the Foreign Ministry and the cabinet spokesman.
The letter complained of interference with television satellite transmissions - which must be routed through China Central Television - and delays in shipping videotapes. It argued that foreign journalists had a duty to report on all sides of the Falun Gong story.
7.3 Practitioners Punished for Revealing Mistreatments in Detention
7.3.1 Professors sentenced; graduate students expelled for suspicion of drafting a letter of appeal to the General Secretary of UN, Mr. Annan
Victims:
1. Hong Jirong
2. Luo Mingpu
3. Liu Bin
4. Chen Minyong
Location of incident: Chengdu City, Sichuan Province
Description:
News from China (February 3, 2000), Hong Jirong, a professor in Sichuan University, was sentenced to three years of forced labor because of his suspected involvement in drafting and signing “an appeal letter to United Nations General Secretary Mr. Annan from Practitioners in Sichuan Province”. Two graduate students from Sichuan University, Luo Mingpu and Liu Bin, and a graduate student from Sichuan Industrial College have also been expelled from their schools because they were also suspected to have taken part in drafting the letter and in collecting signatures.
News from China (February 8, 2000), the three students mentioned above, Luo Mingpu, Liu Bin, Chen Minyong, were transferred to Linxia street Jail of Chengdu City, waiting for severe sentence. They were held together with murderers, drug dealers and other criminals.
7.3.2 A major organizer of the Falun Gong news release in Beijing sentenced to 12 years in jail
Message received: January 25, 2000
Victim: Jiang Zhaohui, Fujian Province
Location of incident Beijing
Description:
It was said that Jiang Chaohui, the major organizer of the Falun Gong press conference in Beijing (held on the same day as the Chinese communist regime slanderously defamed Falun Gong as an evil cult) and the 1999 Guangzhou Falun Gong experience sharing conference, was sentenced to 12 years in jail.
7.3.3 A Chinese policemen who attended the Falun Gong press conference has been detained and charged
Message received: November 5, 1999 [Associated Press]
Victims:
1. Wang Zhiguo, 37 years of age, Communist Party member and policeman
2. Yong Fang, female
3. Wang Wei, female
4. Shang Fengzhi, female
Location of incident: Anshan, Liaoning Province
Description:
According to Associated Press (November 5):
A Chinese policemen who put his loyalty to the Falun Gong spiritual movement ahead of orders to crush the group has been detained and was being escorted today back to his hometown for likely punishment, a law enforcement official said.
Wang Zhiguo, a 37-year-old Communist Party member and policeman who also practices Falun Gong, defied authorities and came to Beijing to protest a government ban on the group. The policeman, Wang, was one of 30 followers of the meditation group who held a daring, secretively convened news conference last week to air their grievances about the government crackdown.
After the Falun Gong News Conference held on Oct. 28 1999 in Beijing , most of them were arrested
Three other principal Falun Gong members were also arrested, said the official from an Anshan government office coordinating the city’s crackdown against Falun Gong.
The center said Wang Zhiguo was detained October 30 and charged today with using a cult to undermine enforcement of laws.
7.3.4 A young teacher attended the Falun Gong news release in Beijing was arrested
Message received: November 11, 1999
Victim: Lei Xiaoting, female
Location of incident Beijing
Description:
A young teacher was suspected to have attended the Falun Gong news conference in Beijing Lei Xiaoting, female, is a young teacher in the Foreign Language Department of the University of Industry and Business of Beijing. On the morning of November 5, the Beijing police took her away from her dorm and into custody. The security section of the University said that the police suspected her of having attended the news conference on October 28 and being an interpreter for those foreign journalists. Currently, her parents cannot visit her.
7.3.5 A government official was sentenced to four years in jail
Message received: January 5, 2000
Victim: Xu Xinmu, deputy director at Shijiazhuang’s personnel division in central China Location of incident Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province
Description:
The Chinese communist regime has sentenced Xu to four years in jail for “leaking a speech by the general secretary of the communist party Jiang Zemin on persecuting Falun Gong”, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said on Tuesday. By “leaking” that speech, Xu exposed the conspiracy of the communist party against tens of millions of Chinese people.
7.3.6 Zhang Chunqing, Zhu Hang, and other practitioners suffer further persecutions for exposing tortures in detention
Message received: December 27, 1999
Victims:
1. Liang Qing, female
2. Li Duo
3. Zhang Chunqing, female
4. Zhu Hang, female, an associate professor
from Dalian University of Science and
Technology
5. Zhang Xiaohong, female
6. Sha Yusong, female
7. Yin Xingqin, female
8. Yang Xiujuan, female
Location of incident: Dalian and Shenyang, Liaoning Province
Description:
So far, over 100 female practitioners have been sent to the Masanjia labor camp in Shenyang. Eighteen of them are from Dalian; others are from other places of Liaoning province. The number of male practitioners in the labor camp is unknown.
Liang Qing from Dalian was detained in the Yaojia Detention Center in Nanguanling, Dalian, for going to Beijing to appeal on July 20; she was freed after 26 days of detention. Later, on October 24, she was arrested again at home because she had sent the news about the inhumane police tortures of Zhang Chunqing and other practitioners to foreign media. Her computer and other equipment were also confiscated. Practitioner Li Duo was arrested together with her. Later, Liang Qing was sentenced to 3 years of forced labor; Li Duo was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor.
Zhang Chunqing is now being detained in the Masanjia labor camp for three years of forced labor. Her family only received a verbal notice on her detention without detailed information.
Zhu Hang, an associate professor from Dalian University of Science and Technology, is now being detained in a psychiatric hospital and is forced to accept the treatments for mental patients because she refuses to give up Falun Gong.
Zhang Xiaohong is now being detained in the Yaojia detention center because she had gone to appeal. Sha Yusong has been sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor because his previous experience in the detention center was exposed on the Internet. Yin Xingqin and Yang Xiujuan are now being detained in a drug-stopping center because their experiences were publicized on the Internet.
No family members are allowed to visit the sentenced and detained practitioners.
7.3.7 An assistant professor sentenced to four years in prison for posting an article on the Internet in favor of the health benefits of Falun Gong
Message received: December 26, 1999
Victim: Li Fujun
Location of incident Henan Province
Description:
Li Fujun was an assistant professor at Xinziang Medical College in central Henan Province. The Chinese communist regime has sentenced Li to four years in prison, a Hong Kong-based rights watchdog said on Monday. The center said Li Fujun had been arrested in October, and that the court accused him of posting an article on the Internet about the health benefits of Falun Gong.
7.3.8 Four practitioners arrested for leaking the news about the death of a detained Falun Gong practitioner caused by police brutality
Message received: December 14, 1999
Victims:
1. Liu Jinling, female, works for a transportation company in Shenzhen
2. Li Lanying
3. Chi Yunling
4. Chen Shihuan
Location of incident: Zhaoyuan, Shandong Province
Description:
According to a Hong Kong Human Rights and Democratic Movement Information Center, four Falun Gong practitioners in China were formally arrested last week by the authorities, under the accusation of “illegally providing information to those outside China” by leaking the news that a detained Falun Gong practitioner had been tortured to death by police. They are facing heavy sentences.
According to the information center, on November 5th, members of a special team from the police department of Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province, went to Shenzhen and arrested Liu Jinling, a woman from Zhaoyuan who was working in a transportation company in Shenzhen, and took her back to Zhaoyuan. The police accused Liu Jinling of taking part in disclosing Falun Gong practitioner Zhao Jinhua’s death from police torture to people outside China. Besides Liu, Falun Gong practitioners in Zhaoyuan, Li Lanying, Chi Yunling, and Chen Shihuan are also in police custody for the same reason.
7.3.9 China has charged a student who posted information about Falun Gong on the Internet
Message received: November 8, 1999 [Reuters]
Victim: Zhang Ji, a student at Qiqihar University in northeast China
Location of incident: Heilongjiang Province, China
Description:
According to Reuters (Nov 8, 1999):
China has charged a student with spreading information on the outlawed Falun Gong movement on the Internet, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said Monday.
The Information Center of Human Rights & Democratic Movement in China said the authorities Monday charged Zhang Ji, a student at Qiqihar University in northeast China, for ``using the Internet to spread subversive information.’’ The group said Zhang sent information through cyberspace to the United States and Canada in August on what was happening to Falun Gong in Heilongjiang province.
Zhang, 20, was arrested last month and was expected to receive a jail term of between three and five years, it said.
7.4 The Internet Communication of Falun Gong Practitioners Disrupted by Chinese Government; Falun Gong Web Sites Attacked
7.4.1 A student was arrested and expected to be sentenced because of putting Falun Gong information on the Internet
Victim: Zhang Ji, 20 years of age, a student at Qiqihar University,
Location of incident: Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, China
Description:
A Hong Kong-based human rights group said on Monday November 8 that China has charged Zhang Ji with spreading Falun Gong information on the Internet. The group said that since August the student sent information on what was happening to Falun Gong in China to United States and Canada and downloaded latest news about Falun Gong from the Internet and passed the news to other Falun Gong practitioners.
Zhang was arrested last month and was expected to be sentenced to jail for three to five years, it said. Chinese police had stepped up monitoring of the Internet to prevent Falun Gong members from communicating with the outside world or with each other within China. They also make use of special software to read email messages of Falun Gong Practitioners.
7.4.2 Falun Gong web sites in North America and Europe are attacked by hackers from China
Message received: August 8, 1999
Victims: Falun Dafa practitioners in Canada and Europe
Description: The Attack on Falun Dafa
1. The Attack on Falun Dafa Canada web site:
Date of message: Thursday, August 5, 1999
Email message from: Jason Xiao <jxiao@sirokygroup.com>
To: Jon Dube
Dear Jonathan:
I am a web editor of ww.falundafa.ca. This web site was attacked many Times since July 20. Identified by IP address, most hackers are from China. Even our ISP’s web servers were destroyed a few times. Two weeks ago, we had to switch to another ISP (Internet Server Provider) whom has better prevent technology from hack and attack. They (new ISP) said that there is one hacker (from China) to keep attack falundafa.ca.
You can call our current ISP for details. The phone number is (905) 528-4638.
We already spent about 60 hours in recovery from the damage of www.falundafa.ca. I got many messages from readers in China. They said that all Falun Dafa web sites were blocked by the Chinese government, readers from China could not access Falun Dafa sites on Internet.
Thanks,
Jason Xiao
(Toronto)
2. The Attack on Falun Dafa Europe web site:
Date of message: Thursday, August 5, 1999
Email message from: Bao Zhu.
To: Jon Dube
Dear Mr. Jon Dube,
We’re some Falun Gong practitioners in Ireland. We, together with a few practitioners in UK, set up a Falun Gong experience sharing and news reporting website on 20 July, “http://www.yuanming.org.uk”, residing at a server of NetScan company(http://www.netscan.co.uk)in UK. But after it ran only 4 days, it suffered continuous attack from China on 23-24 July. At the beginning they just broke down the server, later they deleted all our files and put on the article from CCTV and newspapers of Chinese government, which was slandering Mr. Li Hongzhi, titled “The person and the affairs of Li Hongzhi”, and changed The author of the article into “Falun Dafa Research Society”. Then we asked The technical supporter of NetScan to solve the problem, they feared that this would affect their reputation and their other clients, so they would not like to continue to provide the service for us, they said the hacker grabbed their very high-level password. So we had to move it away.
Please find the enclosed file, which is the article the Chinese hacker put on our web.
Thank you for your concern about this.
Best regards,
Bao Zhu
7.4.3 Falun Gong web sites are blocked in China
Messaged received: August 3, 1999
Victims: Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing, China
Description:
We are Dafa practitioners in Beijing. Right now, we are not allowed to visit the web sites freely. This mail is to tell you; based on what I know, although the Chinese media broadcast that there are practitioners departing from Dafa every day, but the Dafa practitioners around me are still very firm and unshakable.
We have had the feeling that we were in a very difficult period. It seemed that every practitioner was supporting the government and departing from Dafa. But, very quickly we have realized that it was the deceit of the media. They did this in order to make us feel isolated, to make us give up. This was a significant test to every Dafa practitioner especially the practitioners in China.
7.4.4 Falun Gong web sites in China shut down; anti-Falun Gong web sites built up; Falun Gong overseas web sites attacked
News received: August 6, 1999
Source of news: ABCNEWS.com
Description:
Falun Gong websites attacked
August 6 - After watching the Falun Gong meditation sect grow to millions of people via the Internet, the Chinese government is now trying to harness the power of the Internet to silence the movement.
Having shut down all of the Falun Gong Web sites in China, the government installed filtering software to block Internet users on the Chinese mainland from accessing Falun Gong sites overseas. It has also launched an anti-Falun Gong Web site to discredit the group.
And now Falun Gong practitioners say the group’s Web sites in the United States, Canada, England and Ireland have been repeatedly attacked and hacked - and they claim the Chinese government is responsible.
Falun Gong mixes slow-motion martial arts exercises with concepts borrowed from Buddhism and Taoism. The group was outlawed by the People’s Republic of China on July 21 for allegedly spreading “superstitious, evil thinking.”
Since then, Webmasters for many Falun Gong sites outside China report that their servers have been over-loaded, preventing practitioners from accessing Web pages and causing system crashes. Others have reported being spammed by thousands of e-mails and computer virus attacks.
Hackers have attempted to break into at least four sites, succeeding in at least two cases. Sites in Ireland and in Nottingham, Britain, were hacked into and anti-Falun Gong articles posted.
Bao Zhu, a Falun Gong practitioner in Dublin, Ireland, says the site he ran, www.yuanming.org.uk, came under continuous attack from July 23 to July 26. At first the attackers jammed the server so that no one could access the site. Then they hacked in, deleted all the files and replaced them with an article, in Chinese, that had previously been distributed by the Chinese government.
Maryland Site Attacked.
Bob McWee, a Maryland practitioner who runs www.falunusa.net, says his site received a denial-of-service attack, in which the attacker sends repeated connection requests to the server from phony addresses. Because the addresses were false, McWee’s servers were unable to respond and the flood of requests tied up his server, preventing it from responding to valid requests. As a result, no one could access his Web site and the server continually crashed.
With requests coming in at a rate of 20 per second, his site was down from July 21 through July 23, until he blocked the attacks.
“When I finally figured out what it was and blocked it, then the attacks got heavier,” McWee says. “So they definitely were trying to bring my servers down.” The attacks stopped Wednesday, he says.
One of the phony return addresses the attackers used happened to be the IP address of a U.S. Department of Transportation server. As a result, the Falun Gong sites tried to send acknowledgement messages to the DOT server, McWee says.
When DOT officials saw the unauthorized messages coming from sites such as www.falunusa.net, www.falundafa.ca and www.falundafa.org, it contacted the operators of the sites to find out why they were being sent, according to McWee and other Webmasters.
Bill Adams, a spokesperson for the Transportation Department, says the department won’t answer questions or confirm what happened “for security reasons.”
Embassy Disavows Knowledge
Hackers also tried to break into McWee’s site and to www.falundafa.ca but failed. McWee and Jason Xiao, the Webmaster for www.falundafa.ca, say they traced the hackers to an IP address from China that was registered with China Telecom by a division of China’s Public Security Ministry.
“If they banned every Falun Gong site in China, why not try to block them everywhere else?” McWee says. “It doesn’t surprise me that they would attempt to do this.”
Yu Shuning, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, says he is aware of the complaints that Falun Gong sites had been attacked, but does not know who was responsible. “About so-called hacking, I have no knowledge,” he says.
In the eyes of Falun Gong practitioners, the Chinese government is trampling on the rights of not only its own citizens but of people in democratic societies.
“We are just volunteers maintaining our own private site, right?” says Jillian Ye, a Toronto practitioner who operates www.falundafa.ca and www.minghui.ca, which were attacked and inaccessible for a week. “What strength do we have to fight back against big government if they use their full strength to try to destroy our site? It is very unfair.”
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