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CHINA EXTENDS PERSECUTION OF FALUN GONG TO AUSTRALIAN SOIL

8/18/00 (Sydney Morning Herald) The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Downer, has ignored the advice of his senior officials and publicly warned China that harassment of Falun Gong sect devotees in Australia would be unacceptable. Mr. Downer said yesterday that officials had again raised the suspected harassment of Falun Gong followers in Australia in private talks this week with a Chinese human rights delegation visiting Canberra.

"We obviously wouldn't want to see harassment of any Australian citizens in Australia or for that matter anywhere by any embassies or diplomatic officials," he said yesterday. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and the Australian Federal Police have been monitoring the activities of Chinese diplomats and others linked with the Chinese Embassy in what appears to be a campaign aimed at countering the activities of Falun Gong in Australia and the movement's links with its fellow devotees in China. There are an estimated 2,000 followers in Australia and many have complained that they have been pressured by Chinese diplomats, followed, their property damaged and phones tapped. The Herald has confirmed that Chinese diplomats have contacted local government offices and urged officials to deny the sect the use of community facilities. It is understood that Chinese diplomats have also urged local government libraries to avoid holding the movement's literature.

EDITORIAL (8/17/2000): In fear of Falun Gong. [Falun Gong practitioners] have protested outside the Chinese Embassy and the consulate in Sydney, but their protests are against the official oppression of their members. The local police say that of all such protests they attend, those by Falun Gong require the smallest police presence. To all but the ruling oligarchy in China, Falun Gong looks like any other of countless sects and groups, benign and unthreatening. But inside China, the tradition of official intolerance of anything which does not conform to the ruling order of things, the fear of difference, comes into play. When China oppresses its people there is not much Australia or any other outsiders can do, except speak up for the oppressed. If China's fear of difference extends to its diplomats' behaviour in Australia, it is a more serious matter.

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NEWS FROM CHINA

[Jinan] A 19-Year-Old Girl Tortured in Women's Labor Camp - Chen Lili a 19-year-old girl and former college student of Qingdao University was held in the Women's Labor Camp of Jinan City for the last five months. Police there, shocked her repeatedly with electric batons until they ran out of power after discovering her practicing the Falun Gong exercises. The police continued to torture her although her two arms were covered with blisters from the electric shock.

[Shandong Province] After being arrested, a female Falun Dafa practitioner was handcuffed to a utility pole for five hours and exhibited publicly at the local town fair, with a wooden signboard hung around her neck with the words "evil religion." [Miyun Detention Center] At the Miyun Detention Center, one practitioner from Henan Province was kicked, beaten, and shocked with a stun baton, and then dragged into a cell for further torture. There he was handcuffed with arms outspread as if on a cross, then shocked repeatedly on the arms, legs, and mouth with a 380 voltage stun baton. They [police officers] revived him and then inserted the stun baton into his mouth and threatened to inflict further torture.

[Tiananmen Police Station] Four policemen beat a 60-year-old lady with wooden sticks, for over four hours, causing her to vomit and lose consciousness. After she was revived she could not stand up. The police forced her to leave the station by crawling outside because they were afraid she would die while under their custody.

[Hebei - Shijiazhuang City] A female practitioner was beaten, kicked, and had her head smashed against the wall repeatedly by four policemen (and women). Then the police then stuck a lit cigarette into the nostril of this practitioner and forced her to smoke it by covering her mouth and not allowing her to breathe. (Note: Falun Gong promotes clean living and practitioners do not smoke.) Then they repeatedly burned her with the lit cigarette on the tip of her nose and her mouth.

[Guangzhou] A family of five practitioners, including two teenage daughters in high school, was arrested but would not give their personal information to the police. The police then began to interrogate one of the teenage daughters. They burned her hands repeatedly with lit cigarettes until they were covered with burns. The entire family was transferred to the Lanzhou City Detention Center and forced to work, 15 hours a day, in the sun.

MEDIA ADVISORY: UN PROTESTS TO GREET CHINA'S PRESIDENT:

China's President Jiang Zemin will participate in the UN's Millennium Summit in New York City during the week of September 5th - 8th. Falun Gong practitioners will be appealing during this period to the President and the Chinese government for the release of illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners in China, and for official recognition of Falun Gong by the government. For more information, or to attend a press conference, please contact the Falun Dafa Information Center (below).