Monitoring News of the Persecution of Falun Gong
FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER - Contacts: Gail Rachlin 212-501-8080, Erping Zhang 917-679-6944, Feng Yuan 917-912-3301, or Levi Browde 914-720-0963. Email: faluninfoctr@nycmail.com ; Website: http://www.faluninfo.net/
FALUN GONG TO SUE JIANG ZEMIN IN U.S. COURT
(Falun Dafa websites) Falun Gong spokesman Zhang Erping announced in a recent report that Falun Gong would initiate legal proceedings against the president of the People's Republic of China, Jiang Zemin, as well as the Chinese public security systems, for the murder, imprisonment, and torture of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Quoted in the newspaper, Taiwan Lianhe, Zhang Erping emphasized that as soon as Jiang Zemin or people from China's public security bureau enter the U.S., whether on official business, visiting relatives, or just touring the country, subpoenas will be served and criminal proceedings will begin. He also stated that there are many people willing to provide legal help and support for this action. "Falun Gong will use all legal means to hold these people responsible for the brutal persecution of Chinese Falun Gong practitioners," said Zhang.
REPORTS OF JIANG'S POLITICAL POWER WEAKENING
Epoch Times (October 25; translated and excerpted from the Chinese): Correspondent Wang Yu has confirmed stories that the Premier recently paid a visit to the fifth section of Beijing Public Security Bureau, asking the police officials to "not be harsh on Falun Gong practitioners any longer." And that may be just the beginning of the problem for Jiang, whose brutal and bloody crackdown on the group has brought unwelcome media attention to his regime at a time when international opinion on the status of human rights in China is at its lowest since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. According to the report, many high-ranking PRC officials feel the same, and are uncharacteristically beginning to voice their concerns. Since shortly before the PRC National Day (October 1), anti-Jiang sentiments have been circulating within the Central Government and local governments. This sentiment is
surfacing in different ways. For example, the National Day Editorial of the state-run People's Daily seemingly changed its past policy of flattery of the current president to a barely complimentary, matter-of-fact report of Jiang Zemin's new political initiatives. Rather than offering it's traditional support, the paper seems to be giving Jiang the minimum coverage needed to keep him from totally losing respect. In another unprecedented show of defiance, both of Jiang's nominees for political offices were vetoed at the 5th Plenary Session of the 15th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (October 9-11).
APPEALS MARK ANNIVERSARY OF JIANG'S LABELLING FALUN GONG AN 'EVIL CULT'
BEIJING (AP, Oct, 25) - The 11 Falun Gong followers eating stewed pork and spicy peppers in a private room at a Beijing restaurant knew it could be their last supper before a long detention in prison. Mostly strangers, they introduced themselves in hushed voices and shared their anger over a Chinese government crackdown on their [group]. It was a scene replayed throughout Beijing on Wednesday night, a day before at least 100 [group] members were detained during one of Falun Gong's largest demonstrations since it was banned 15 months ago. Thursday's events at Tiananmen Square were brief but violent, like most of the [group's] previous demonstrations. No sooner had small bands of Falun Gong members begun to unfurl banners or throw leaflets than dozens of police rushed to pummel them and drag them to waiting vans. One man, thrown to the ground, was kicked in the stomach and head until blood ran from
his mouth onto the gray flagstones. An elderly woman was dragged by her hair for several yards as bystanders pleaded with police to stop匱he beatings inflicted on demonstrators in full view of thousands of horrified tourists reflect the ferocity of government efforts to crush Falun Gong?Our belief keeps us from being afraid," said Han, a 46-year-old former Beijing factory worker. Han said he has kept in touch with only a few group members since the crackdown began. One of them told him of the protest in a phone call last month, he said. He called the others he knew, who did the same until word had worked its way throughout China?Han and the others bristled at criticisms in China's state-run press that Falun Gong was somehow controlled from abroad by founder Li Hongzhi... They claimed that the decision to protest came from a feeling shared among members that something needed to be done to mark Thursday, the one-year
anniversary of the day that China's president first publicly declared Falun Gong an "evil cult." "There's nothing evil about Falun Gong," said Yang Hong, another of those at the dinner.
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD WEBSITE BANNED IN CHINA
BEIJING-The Sydney Morning Herald's Web site, www.smh.com.au, may have fallen victim to China's attempts to control domestic access to foreign Internet sites. The Herald site has been unavailable through Chinese Internet service providers (ISPs) for more than two weeks. Callers to the Herald bureau in Beijing have said they have been unable to access it since soon after the Olympics匰ources in the Ministry of Information Industry, which supervises network access in China, have confirmed that the Herald site cannot be traced into the domestic network. But no government agency appears willing or able to shed any light on why. The Foreign Ministry, the Public Security Bureau and the agencies responsible for network access have all denied knowledge of or responsibility for a block on the site... China routinely blocks the Web sites of certain overseas news organisations. The New York Times and
The Washington Post are rarely accessible, and the CNN and the BBC sites are also often barred. Human rights sites critical of the Government are also blocked. In August the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, called on official media to strengthen their "political thought work" in the face of a flood of information available via the Internet, which it described as a "thought and public opinion battle front". "Enemy forces at home and abroad are sparing no effort to use this battle front to infiltrate us," the paper said... A number of domestic sites that challenged the Government have been closed this year. Aside from political "Web dissidents", China has also targeted the banned Falun Gong spiritual and meditation movement...
ALABAMA RESEARCHER & HIS WIFE RETURN FROM DETENTION IN CHINA
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- An Alabama microbiologist and his wife, detained in China about six weeks because of their ties to an outlawed sect, are worried about fellow practitioners they left behind. Friends and government officials in the United States lobbied the Chinese government to release Shean Lin, a researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and his wife, Xiaohua Du. Other Falun Gong followers don't have similar support. "They all depend on themselves," said Lin after the couple's arrival Monday night. About 20 friends greeted them upon their return. Lin, 30, and Du, 28, were detained by Chinese authorities on Sept. 8 after officials found Falun Gong materials in their possession.
THREE MORE CONFIRMED REPORTS OF DEATHS IN CUSTODY
BEIJING (AP, Oct. 30) - Wang Bin, a 47-year-old computer specialist, was beaten for three hours by guards at the Dongfeng labor camp, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy reported. He died Oct. 5, the Hong Kong-based group said. The group also said Xie Guiying, 32, died of a beating at a police station on Oct. 18 in the eastern city of Zhunan. Liu Yucai, 60, a private doctor from northeastern Jilin province, died in a Beijing police station on Oct. 6, the report said. The deaths raise to 62 the number of sect followers who have died in detention since China banned the Falun Gong in July 1999. Chinese officials have declined to discuss individual reports of police abuse against Falun Gong members, but deny that any followers have died from police mistreatment. Wang's former colleagues at an oil field management institute in the northern city of Daching are demanding that his killers
be prosecuted, and sent a representative to discuss the case with police on Monday, the human rights group said.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER
- Contacts: Gail Rachlin 212-501-8080, Erping Zhang 917-679-6944, Feng Yuan 917-912-3301, or Levi Browde 914-720-0963. Email: faluninfoctr@nycmail.com; Website: http://www.faluninfo.net/
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