(Clearwisdom.net) Prior to the Olympics, there were thousands of Falun Gong practitioners arrested by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This is a crime committed by the Communist regime against Falun Gong practitioners. The Olympics were over four months ago but many practitioners are still being illegally detained. Besides the forced labor camp persecution, there has been additional illegal sentencing of Falun Gong practitioners recently.

In November and December 2008, twelve practitioners were illegally sentenced in Shuangyashan City, Helongjiang Province. Practitioner Wang Haiyang was sentenced to four years, Dong Mingfeng three years, Guo Shuzhen seven years, Wang Yaojun yet to be confirmed, Liu Junzhong ten years, Wang Junhong ten years, Yu Zhanhong nine years, Tian Xiaoxuan eight years, Jiang Jie seven years, Meng Xianguo seven years, Wang Yarong seven years, Tian Chengjun five years and Jiang Guifu four years. Four of them are women over sixty years old.

On November 13, 2008, the Lianshan District Court in Huludao City, Liaoning Province sentenced practitioners Li Mingyan to eleven years and Li Yanqun to ten years. In December, the Beixin District Court of Liaoning Province sentenced practitioners Wang Shumei to ten years, Xi Changhai eleven years, Sun Yushu eight years and Huo Defu six years.

In December 2008, Qiaodong Court of Xingtai City, Hebei Province illegally sentenced seven practitioners. Qian Wanyun was sentenced to eight years, Wang Jinshan eight years, Zhang Zhihong six years, Wu Sanbai four years, Tian Shuzhen three years, Hao Bushen three years and Yin Shunfeng three years.

Why are these practitioners still being detained even after the Olympics? Is it because we have been slacking off in clarifying the truth or we have not clarified the truth clearly enough? I feel that since the end of the Olympics, many practitioners, including myself, have not been paying close enough attention to the practitioners arrested due to the Olympics. Practitioners in China should learn from the lessons of these illegal sentences. Some of the practitioners being sentenced are being considered assistants. If we cannot truly improve as one body and cultivate from the perspective of the Fa, and if we merely rely on individual practitioners' influence, the old forces will take advantage of us and use this to undermine our determination in practicing Dafa. Their excuse is for us to truly become independent and eliminate the attachment to relying on others.

Our normal and righteous state should be that as long as the persecution continues, we should never stop clarifying the truth. Now, it is imperative to rescue practitioners being persecuted in China. Overseas practitioners have only been focusing on individual cases when exposing the persecution instead of holistically viewing the situation due to the Olympics. We hope overseas practitioners can focus more on this recent illegal sentencing of Falun Gong practitioners.