AFP: US House Demands End To Falun Gong Persecution In China (Excerpt)

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US House of Representatives approved a measure urging the Chinese government to immediately stop hostile actions against the Falun Gong spiritual group both in China and the United States.

The measure urges Beijing to "immediately stop interfering in the exercise of religious and political freedoms within the United States, such as the right to practice Falun Gong."

It also wants the Chinese government to "cease using the diplomatic missions in the United States to spread falsehoods about the nature of Falun Gong," and to "release from detention all prisoners of conscience, including practitioners of Falun Gong," incarcerated in China.

China should "immediately end the harassment, detention, physical abuse, and imprisonment of individuals who are exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of religion, including the practices of Falun Gong, freedom of expression, and freedom of association, as stated in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China," according to the measure.

It also wants Beijing to "demonstrate its willingness to abide by international standards of freedom of belief, expression, and association by ceasing to restrict those freedoms" in China.

The House also wants President George W. Bush to issue "a formal protest" to the Chinese Foreign Ministry "in response to the repeated violations by the Chinese Government of basic human rights" in China.

And the legislators want US Attorney General John Ashcroft to "investigate reports that Chinese consular officials in the United States have committed illegal acts while attempting to intimidate or inappropriately influence Falun Gong practitioners or local elected officials."

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