CHINA CRISIS NEWS BULLETIN #36 4/6/2000
Monitoring News of the Persecution of Falun Gong
Contact Rachlin Management and Media Group: 212 501-8080
CRACKDOWN IMMINENT ON FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF APRIL 25 APPEAL
ATTENTION JOURNALISTS: As the first anniversary of the April 25th 1999 Falun Gong mass appeal for legal recognition in Beijing approaches, Falun Gong sources inside China warn of stepped up repression. "According to the decisions of the Central Political Bureau and the Central Committee of Politics and Law, before the anniversary of the "gathering of April 25", the Chinese authorities will start a new round of cracking down on Falun Gong practitioners starting from April 12... For the past few months, the Chinese authorities have been building new jails and forced labor camps. Before the planned crackdown in the mid of April, the state-run newspapers, journals, TV, and radios in China will also start a new series of propaganda campaigns to attack Falun Gong." (Source: Falun Gong Web Sites)
FALUN GONG TO TESTIFY AT CONGRESSIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CAUCUS
Falun Gong will testify at a Congressional probe into human rights abuses in China chaired by Congressmen Tom Lantos and John Porter. The briefing takes place on Thursday, April 6th, 2000, at 2:00 p.m. in room B-318 Rayburn. Says the invite: "As this year turns out to be of fundamental importance for our bilateral relations with the PRC, China's human rights record remains dismal."
CHINESE MILITARY INSTRUCTOR SENT TO MENTAL HOPSPITAL
BEIJING (AP) - A Chinese military instructor who belonged to Falun Gong has been sent to a mental hospital and force-fed psychiatric drugs, a human rights group said Wednesday. Li Qun is one of five members held at the Nanjing Psychiatric Hospital in the eastern city of Nanjing, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said. Li was given drugs that left her ``slowwitted and seriously injured her brain,'' the Information Center said. It said a nurse at the hospital reported that she was unable to receive telephone calls or visits from relatives. In another incident, a woman who complained about these abuses in mental hospitals was herself committed to one... Ms. Li Qun, a young teacher in the Institute of Communication Engineering was thrown into the Nanjing Mental Hospital because she had written an appeal letter to the government denouncing the practice of detaining practitioners in mental hospitals illegally and the use of inhumane treatments.
GENEVA: POLITICAL WRANGLING OVER U.N. RESOLUTION CONTINUES
China continues to use its economic clout to pressure governments to block a US supported resolution condemning human rights violations. NGO groups in Canada and Australia and other countries are petitioning their own governments to support the resolution. Poland, which had backed it, is reported wavering by Falun Gong representatives who have been monitoring the political debate... Meanwhile Amnesty International testified, denouncing torture and other abuse: "Torture and ill treatment are commonplace in China. Criminal suspects are often beaten, kicked, hung by the arms, shackled in painful positions, deprived of food and sleep and given electric shocks. Those serving sentences in prison or labor camps are frequently subjected to torture or ill treatment by guards or other inmates acting on the instructions of officials even though torture is prohibited by Chinese law. Few perpetrators are punished and superior officers, prosecutors, judges and other officials often cover-up cases of torture and ignore complaints made by victims."
AS U.N. TALKS, PRISON TESTIMONIES CONFIRM PATTERN OF ABUSE
(Falun Gong Web Sites) "Ms. Qiu Li-ying was a practitioner from Shi-jia-zhuang City. She was sent to this labor camp on December 9 of 1999. On that day, the guards found her practicing Falun Gong. They then beat her madly. One hit her head and the other hit her lower abdomen violently. She almost lost her consciousness. The brutal beating scared her inmates. During her 32 days of hunger strike from December 4 to January 5, she was still forced to work and was not allowed to take one day off, although she was very weak... The most miserable experience was how Duan Jin-jin and other practitioners were force-fed. Each time, five people worked on them. One dragged the hair. One squeezed the nose. One covered the mouth. One squeezed the throat. The last one weighing over 160 pounds sat on the belly. They would feed practitioners on hunger strike with fluid food as soon as the practitioners had to open their mouths for air. One might choke to death from being forced-fed like this. The doctor would feed one through nose for fear that one might choke to death from being fed through the esophagus, which would become sticky from not taking any food for a long time"
UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS SPEAKS ON SITUATION IN CHINA
United Nations Commission on Human Rights 56th session. Civil and political rights, including the question of torture and detention, disappearances and summary executions. (April 5, 2000). Excepts:
Torture and ill-treatment are commonplace in China. Criminal suspects are often beaten, kicked, hung by the arms, shackled in painful positions, deprived of food and sleep and given electric shocks. Those serving sentences in prisons or labour camps are frequently subjected to torture or ill-treatment by guards or other inmates acting on the instructions of officials even though torture is prohibited bz Chinese law. Few perpetrators are punished and superior officers, persecutors, judges and other officials often cover up cases of torture and ignore complaints made by victims.
Amnesty International believes that the Commission cannot continue to ignore grave violations of human rights in China. The Commission must examine the facts and act accordingly and not abdicate its responsibility through procedural motions.
NOTE: FALUN GONG PRATCITIONERS HAVE JUST PUBLISHED A DETAILED AND DOCUMENTED REPORT ON CHINA'S HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS. FREE MEDIA COPIES ARE AVAILABLE. PRESS INTERVIEWS WITH VICTIMS OF THESE ABUSES CAN NOW BE ARRANGED IN THE U.S. AND EUROPE:
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please contact Rachlin Management & Media Group: 212 501-8080. Also visit http://www.falundafa.org. News stories and reports from China at http://www.minghui.ca .