China Crisis Bulletin #26

BREAKING NEWS:á ANOTHER MYSTERIOUS FALUN GONG DEATH . . .

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CHINA CRISIS NEWS BULLETIN #26 1/27/2000

Monitoring News of the Persecution of Falun Gong

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Contact Gail Rachlin at Rachlin Management & Media Groupá 212-501-8080

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• CONFIRMED: MENTAL HOSPITALS USED TO CURB DISSENT

• ANOTHER MYSTERIOUS DEATH IN POLICE CUSTODY

• DESPITE CRACKDOWN, FALUN GONG GROWS IN THE U.S., OVERSEAS

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NOW CONFIRMED:á MENTAL HOSPITALS USED AGAINST FALUN GONG

A few weeks back, this bulletin reported that China was sending Falun Gong practitioners off to mental hospitals and subjecting them to physical and psychological abuse. That development has now been confirmed by Reuters press accounts.á "China has sent more than 50 followers of the outlawed Falungong spiritual movement to a psychiatric hospital in Beijing where they have been held since December, a Hong Kong-based human rights group, The Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China, said the practitioners were being held at a hospital in Beijing's Zhou Kou Dian district and were being treated like psychiatric patients.á

CNN Reports:á "Chinese leaders' efforts to eliminate the Falun Gong movement are counterproductive and are giving the group's leader credibility, suggests a Chinese man who is trained in ancient breathing exercises. Sima Nan is trained in the ancient breathing art known as qigong. He has been urging China's leaders to educate the public about Falun Gong, which China has declared illegal, rather than intimidate and prosecute its members. But his appeals appear to have fallen on deaf ears."

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ANOTHER DEATH IN CUSTODY, A FOURTH PRACTITIONER, 41, KILLED

HONG KONG, Jan 25, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) An apparently healthy follower of the banned Falungong movement died while in police custody in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, the group said here Tuesday. Gao Xinmin, 41, died after he was taking away by police in Guangzhou on December 31 while he was having a picnic with 10 other Falungong followers in a park.á "We do not know what is the cause of his death.," a spokesperson said. "Gao was said to have been in good health and not suffering from any illness."á The latest incident brings to at least four the number of Falun Gong practitioners reported to have died while in police custody.

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TRIALS CONTINUE -- ONLY YOU CANNOT PLEAD INNOCENT

SHANGHAI, China (AP) A leader of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group went on trial Monday after the court prevented him from denying charges of cult activity, a human rights group said. Li Jianhui's trial in Futian District Court in the southern city of Shenzhen ended after 24 hours, but no verdict was announced, the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said. Court officials confirmed the trial began, but would not give details.á Court authorities dismissed his first defense lawyer, who wanted to enter an innocent plea, the center said. It said that because Falun Gong has been officially labeled a cult, a new court-appointed defense lawyer was told he could only argue for leniency.á The Information Center says about 5,000 Falun Gong members have been sent to labor camps without being tried and about 300 others face trial. In December, four members were sentenced to up to 18 years in prison.

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CRACKDOWN SPURS WORLDWIDE CONDEMNATIONS OF CHINA

BEIJING, Jan 21 (DPA) - The European Parliament passed a resolution on Thursday deploring an increase in the number of executions and criticized the silencing of political dissidents and recent clampdowns which targeted ethnic and religious minorities.á European MPs attacked what they called Beijing's worsening human rights record and said the mainland should not be admitted to the World Trade Organisation until that record had considerably improved.

ARLINGTON, Va, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui criticised Beijing's human rights record in a taped address to US conservatives...

BEIJING, Jan 21 (AFP) - China's human rights abuses last year were the worst since the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen Square, a human rights watchdog warned Friday.á "The abuses in the past year are the worst in the past few years since the crackdown on 1989 pro-democracy protestors," said Sophia Woodman, research director for Human Rights In China.

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DESPITE CRACKDOWN, FALUN GONG SPREADS IN THE USA, OVERSEAS

"China's crackdown boosts Falun Gong's profile overseas" by Melissa Inouye (Far Eastern Economic Review) -- Although precise numerical comparisons aren't available, U.S. practitioners estimate their current numbers at between 20,000 and 30,000, with 'hits' and e-mails to the organization's Web site rising sharply since Beijing's clampdown. A recently reprinted Falun Gong primer is said to have sold out on two major U.S. bookstore Web sites.á Meanwhile applications for a nine-day beginners' course in New York have doubled.

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WHAT IS FALUN DAFA / FALUN GONG?

Falun Dafa (or Falun Gong) is what Chinese tradition calls a "cultivation practice".á Falun Gong helps improve health and overall mental and physical wellness through a series of high-level easy to do exercises and meditations. A person's practice deepens as they study the universal laws/principles based on Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Millions of practitioners have reported dramatically improved health and a deepened spiritual awareness.á All Falun Dafa activities are free of charge.

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Please call us for background on the spiritual practice and the crisis in China.á Contact Gail Rachlin at Rachlin Management & Media Group: 212 501-8080.á Also visit http://www.falundafa.org.