Latest News from China - 06/04/2000

[Harbin]á

From May 29th to June 28th, a picture show entitled "Promoting Science,eradicating Superstition" is being held in the Harbin Museum. The major purpose of the show is to slander Falun Dafa. Since the show was kicked off, numerous Falun Dafa practitioners have been visiting there and introduced the truth of Falun Dafa to working staff members and the visiting audiences. The show meant to slander Falun Dafa was turned into one to promote Falun Dafa.

[Harbin] Falun Dafa Contact People, Li Hong-kui and Wu Hong-zhu Got Sentenced

On May 30, the people's court of Dao-li district sentenced Falun Dafa contact people Li Hong-kui to 3 and half years of imprisonment, and Wu Hong-zhu to 3 years of imprisonment.

Mr. Li Hong-zhu got arrested in October of 1999 in his work unit. Mr. Wu Hong-zhu got arrested when appealing for Falun Dafa in Beijing.á

In October of 1998, practitioners in Harbin went to the Harbin Daily publishing house to request the clarification of a fabricated report on Falun Gong. On April 25 of 1999, practitioners in Harbin volunteered to go to Beijing to appeal to the central government and to report the truth of Falun Gong (as a matter of fact, most of them arrived in Beijing on April 26). Mr. Li and Mr. Wu got sentenced under the accusation of "organizing the above two events".

The court did not issue any tickets for auditing the trial to their family members.á

[Shi-jia-zhuang] 38 female practitioners in the women labor camp of Shi-jia-zhuang City refused to wear the uniform designated for criminals and continued to practice Falun Gong. They requested for their release by going on hunger strike.

Over 80 practitioners are currently being detained in the women labor camp of Shi-jia-zhuang. They are from places of Bao-ding, Xing-tai and Shi-jia-zhuang etc. They were given forced-labor all because of appealing in Beijing, circulating Falun Dafa materials, or practicing Falun Gong on the Tiananmen Square etc. The oldest practitioner is over 70 and is given forced-labor, which has totally violated the rules on forced-labor; namely, forced-labor is for youth with working ability.

Since March, these detained practitioners have talked to the officials in the labor camp for many times that "Appealing is a right conferred to each citizen by the constitution. Our appealing is peaceful without any anti-government purposes. It is wrong to give us forced-labor. We are not criminals. We request immediate release. We are practitioners of Falun Dafa. We seriously make the following announcements: we do not wear the uniform for the criminals. We do not do the labor. We require to practice Falun Gong and read the books of Falun Dafa."

The labor camp then physically abused 20 practitioners by forcing them to stand in the burning sun for over one month.á

On April 28, over 40 practitioners lined up and practiced Falun Gong in the yard of the labor camp. The guards were irritated and tied the practitioners' hands, feet, neck and head together with ropes. Once the ropes were untied, the practitioners resumed the practice. Also on this day, over 40 practitioners started hunger strike. Among them, 38 remain on hunger strike up to today.

18 of them were sent to the male labor camp after 20 days of hunger strike and were under surveillance 24 hours a day. Their condition was unknown afterwards. Their rights of being visited once a month by their family members were also deprived.á

Another 20 practitioners continued hunger strike in the women labor camp. They refused to wear the uniform, refused to do the labor and continued practicing Falun Gong. The police warned them that their forced-labor would be prolonged. Now they have been force-fed.

Up to May 28, these 38 practitioners are still on hunger strike.á

By practitioners from He-bei province

May 28, 2000

On the picture is the women labor camp of Shi-jia-zhuang, He-bei province. Over 80 female practitioners are being detained here. The labor camps in Lu-quan and Bao-ding etc. are also detaining some female practitioners.á

The labor camp address: No.8, Nan-gao-ji Street, Shi-jia-zhuang City, He-bei Province

Phone: [phone]

á

[Cheng-du, Si-chuan Province]

Ms. Xie Xia, a teacher from the Hua-yang Vocational Middle School of Shuang-liu County, Cheng-du City, was removed from her post for having gone to Beijing to report the truth of Falun Gong. The school also confiscated her 15,000-Yuan deposit for purchasing an apartment of the school.á

Later, the residential committee of the area where she was temporarily living did not allow her to stay. She had to go to Beijing to appeal again. She was escorted back afterwards and given one-year forced-labor. She is now being detained in the Da-jian transitional jail. Her child attending school is also left unattended.

Another young teacher from the same school, Ms. Huang Qian, was given one year of forced-labor last month. She is now being detained in the 4th division of the Nan-mu-si women labor camp of Zi-zhong City. Ms. Huang's mother went to visit her but was refused because she is also a practitioner.á

[Xin-jiang] On June 4, practitioners from Xin-jiang held an experience sharing conference. Over 20 practitioners got arrested. Their situation is unknown.

[Fu-jian Province] In the beginning of April, some practitioners from Fu-zhou City got detained and interrogated for signing an open appeal letter. 3 of them are still being detained up to now. Meanwhile, a practitioner who had gone to Wu-han City, Hu-bei province to visit her detained sister was escorted back by the police and also got detained for one month.á