GENEVA (April 9)Falun Gong practitioners from Europe and North America held a press conference inside the United Nations to report cases of severe abuse, torture and rape committed against women who practice Falun Gong in China.

Representative to the United Nations, Geneva

Thank you Mr. Chairman,

My Name is May Bakhtiar and I speak on behalf of the Association of World Citizens. Our association has always been concerned with the question of religious intolerance in the World, particularly in China.

[Clearwisdom Net] Today (April 9, 2001) Falun Gong practitioners were invited by a journalist to hold a meeting with the press inside a United Nations building in Geneva. The title of the program was "Torture of and Sexual Violence Against Women Falun Gong Practitioners in China." The meeting was a big success. About 20 members of the media were in attendance, and the atmosphere was quite cordial. Unfortunately, however, Jiang Zemin' government tried to stop the press conference before it even started. The Chinese mission sent a long letter--about 3 pages--to the media and others, viciously and unjustifiably slandering Falun Gong. What was most ironic was that their letter claimed that Falun Gong violates people' human rights! The journalist who hosted the meeting said "China always does this kind of thing, so I wasn' surprised." We asked, do other countries do these kinds of things when groups they oppose hold meetings? He said, "No, just China." Because of this and other harassment, the UN felt that they needed extra security at this meeting, and even decided to have a security officer escort the practitioners to and from the meeting. The statements made by practitioners at the meeting were powerful, and journalists took careful notes of the facts described in the practitioners' statements. Several members of the media interviewed practitioners afterward, including one who has had 3 generations of women in her family persecuted under Jiangs regime. While a letter of appeal from female Falun Gong practitioners in China was being read--a letter that describes things such as rape and forced abortions that have happened in detention--a member of the Chinese media used a device to interfere with the microphone during the most hard-hitting section. He had a device in his hand that he was manipulating to make sounds in the microphone while the practitioner was reading, thus disrupting a recording being made by the Voice of America radio. Once the Voice of America reporter realized what was going on, she made the so-called journalist stop the disruption. This was the same journalist who had disrupted a Falun Gong press conference at the UN the year before, making an outburst in the middle of it, and making a fool of himself, as the Geneva media put it. He appeared to not be disrupting things this year, but instead of humiliating himself openly this time, he subtly interfered with people' ability to hear the truth that the Chinese government so greatly fears. Despite all of the many efforts by Chinese officials to prevent the world from learning the truth of their actions, today, the truth reigned victorious. Today' meeting with the press was successful, with many journalists attending who will help spread the truth to the world.