Statement by UK Falun Gong Practitioners on Hunger Strike

In the notorious Masanjia Labor Camp in China, the lives of 130 innocent Falun Gong practitioners are in great danger! To protest against the Chinese Government's refusal to release them at the end of their (illegally imposed) terms, to protest its total disregard for human life, and its habit of violating the law while enforcing the law, 130 practitioners in the Masanjia Labor Camp are on a hunger strike that has already lasted 20 days! Today, we shall begin a 72 hour hunger strike in front of the Chinese Embassy in London, so that the world can see a small reflection of what Falun Gong practitioners are going through in China and hear our urgent call: " SOS! Urgent Rescue the Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China!" We've decided to start a 72 hour, no-food-and-no-drink hunger strike at 8:00 pm, August 20, 2001, to appeal to the Chinese authorities to release those 130 Falun Gong practitioners immediately.áTheir situation is very desperate!

Although these innocent people are at the end of their illegal terms, because of their refusal to renounce their beliefs, the Masanjia Labor Camp hasááfollowed the directive put forward by the government, which states that "We would rather violate the law [than set practitioners free]; we will definitely not release these people." Furthermore, they began treating these hunger striking practitioners with even more cruelty.

The Masanjia Labor Camp is notorious for being a living hell, due to the extremely violent measures they employ to brainwash Falun Gong practitioners. Last October, it was reported that camp officers stripped naked 18 female practitioners and threw them into the cells of male criminals. The abuse they suffered was beyond imagination. And in this evil place, camp officers have devised all sorts of brutal means to torture people, including the 'tiger stool' driving sharp bamboo stick into fingernails; electric batons and electric needles; and injections of dangerous drugs. There is only one aim -- to achieve the goal of brainwashing, to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their belief in the principles of the universe: " Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" and renounce their cultivation of Falun Gong.

Though those 130 practitioners in the Masanjia Labor Camp are going through high-pressure persecution and relentless torture, they hold fast to their beliefs in Falun Dafa and Master Li Hongzhi. Their beliefs are unshakeable, and they are showing the true, determined face of Falun Gong. They present their magnificence in validating the Fa.

Falun Dafa is incomparably powerful. Historically, in the persecution of Christians, the disciples' behavior and the greatness of their minds made Christian history splendid and made Christianity a global belief. Today, while passing through this brutal persecution, Falun Gong practitioners have shouldered the great historic responsibility of the salvation of human beings, and are awakening justice in people's hearts. We have not fallen amidst the massive tribulation, and have established magnificent mighty virtue for the Fa. Human beings can now see through the evil's false face and know its true face amidst the validation of the Fa by Dafa disciples, and they will also know the magnificence of Dafa and Dafa disciples.

Today, we demand the immediate release of those 130 Falun Gong practitioners whose lives are in great danger, as well as the release of all detained Falun Gong practitioners, because "coercion cannot change people's hearts!"

We also appeal urgently to the entire UK society: Please help rescue these 130 hunger-striking Falun Gong practitioners!