Script

• Falun Gong is freely practiced in more than 50 countries, but relentlessly persecuted in China.
• The peaceful courage of practitioners there has shocked their oppressors and moved the people of the world.
• While China continues to block information about the persecution, FGM TV brings you the stories you may not hear anywhere else.

Hello, and welcome to the FGM TV weekly news review on October 1, 2002

I'm David Tompkins

In this week's update from China...

• The number of Falun Gong practitioners verified to have died while in detention is 487, with details of 7 more confirmed deaths received in the past week. Reliable sources inside China put the actual death count in the thousands.
• In the last 7 days, reports of persecution have come in from 17 provinces and from the cities of Beijing and Shanghai.
• 363 people declared as void all statements they had made under torture and at times when their minds were not clear. They said they intend to continue to practice Falun Gong.

Our top story this week:

• The organizing committee of the 14th Asian Games in Pusan South Korea gives in to pressure from China to ban Falun Gong activities at the event

And some of our other stories:

• Minghui Net is displayed on Mainland Chinese websites
• Homeless families are detained in Tibet and are currently on hunger-strike
• A practitioner dies from long-term abuse in the southern Guizhou Province
• Six practitioners are sentenced to long prison terms in a secret trial lasting less than one hour
• A practitioner is detained in Eastern China in connection with television broadcasts
• Friendship and trust in the Ukraine
• Standing up for Falun Gong in Iceland
• And finally, the tale of a survivor of Masanjia forced labour camp

Disturbing news from Korea

• A report by the European Internet Network says the Pusan Asian Games Organizing Committee has given in to demands by the Chinese regime to ban public activities by Falun Gong practitioners at the event.
• The 14th Asian games are being held in Pusan, the second largest city in South Korea next to Seoul.
• They are scheduled to run from September 29 through to October 14.
• Something of special interest is that North Korea is sending a 665-member delegation to the games this year.
• Officials of the organizing committee said that their security headquarters would cooperate with local police to discourage all Falun Gong activities around the event and its venues.

The Main Chinese Falun Dafa Web Site--Minghui Net--Appears on Sina Net

• According to a Sing Tao Daily report on September 28, Sina Net, one of the most popular Chinese websites, displayed the Falun Dafa Minghui Net homepage yesterday.
• Minghui Net reports positively about Falun Gong with news from different countries, and exposes the persecution in China.
• For the past three years, Minghui Net has been strictly blocked by the Chinese regime.
• According to the report, Sing Tao Daily journalists failed in their attempt to enter the main Sina website, www.sina.com.cn. When they tried another website, www.dailynews.sina.cn, a Falun Gong web page appeared instead.
• The report also said that a major newspaper website in Shenzhen City also experienced the same occurrence. People could not enter that newspaper website through Yahoo, Google or the search engine owned by the People's Daily.
• The web page that appeared was Minghui Net, which alternated with a literary website called Wenxuecheng. Sing Tao Daily also claimed that the switch may have been related to the 16th meeting of the People's Congress. The report said that websites that advocate Jiang's political policies like the People's Daily, Xinhua Net, Sina Net and Sohu Net were targeted.
• However, some people have expressed suspicion as to whether this is an attempt to frame Falun Gong. As the IPs for Minghui.org and Falundafa.org are blocked in China the change can only temporarily affect people overseas.
• People in China would still not be able to view them.

In Western China...

• Twelve Falun Gong practitioners, including a 9-year-old and a 12-year-old, were illegally detained in Lhasa, Tibet after fleeing persecution. They are currently protesting their arrest with a hunger strike.
• The twelve are destitute and homeless practitioners that left their homes to escape the persecution. They come from different regions of China, including Guangdong (Canton) and other Northeastern provinces. Among them were two families of three, each with one child. These children were not able to attend school because there is a requirement that in order to go to school, they would have to give up their belief in "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance".
• It is estimated that these twelve practitioners have been on their hunger strike for about ten days. As it continues, their suffering will possibly become more severe. Police in China have routinely forced fed practitioners on hunger strike, often causing severe bodily damage or death.

In Southern China

• Falun Dafa practitioner Xie Nengyang died after extended periods of torture by police in Guizhou Province. Although he passed away on February 4, 2002, his death was only confirmed last week.
• Nengyang was a 51-year-old train driver who worked for the Guiyang City Railway Bureau.
• He was dismissed from his job in June 2000 because he clarified the truth about Falun Dafa to his superiors.
• In October 2000, Nengyang was illegally arrested and interrogated for 12 hours by the Nanming District Police Department in Guiyang City for distributing truth-clarifying materials.
• From then on he was harassed at all times of the day and night. His work forced him to attend a brainwashing class, where he was placed under great pressure to write so-called "guarantee statements" to give up his belief in "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." However, he never gave in.
• On the night of February 4, 2002, officials from the Nanzhan police station, Shujiazhai police station and the local street office twice broke into Nengyang's home without a warrant. On the second time, they illegally ransacked his home.
• Because of the long-term pressure and abuse, Nengyang passed away that same night.
• His wife is also a Falun Dafa practitioner. The police continued to persecute her, and in early July her work unit attempted to send her to a brainwashing class by force. However, she escaped and remains away from her home to avoid illegal arrest.

In A Trial Lasting Less than One Hour, Six More Dafa Practitioners Are Illegally Sentenced to Long Prison Terms in Hunan Province

• On September 2, 2002, the secondary court illegally sentenced six Falun Dafa practitioners from Hengyang in a closed trial without informing their family members. The whole process lasted less than one hour.
• These practitioners had been illegally detained at the Hengyang City Detention Center since May 30, 2001. They were given sentences ranging from 3 years to 7 years.
• When they arrived at the court, they learned that their trial had not been announced and they requested that their family members be called in to witness it. The police refused and threatened to beat them if they said anything more.
• The trial lasted less than an hour and the practitioners were not given any opportunity to defend themselves. The judge ignored the practitioners' statements and evidence of persecution by the police. The police also tried to force the practitioners to sign the court record, but they refused saying that they had not broken any laws.

In Eastern China

• The Associated Press reported recently that Song Tao, a bank clerk in Yantai, a city in Shandong province was arrested on July 19 in connection with television broadcasts of videos that clarify the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong.
• A police spokesman refused to confirm the name of the practitioner.
• Since March, Falun Gong practitioners have tapped into local television systems with videos that show Falun Gong is being practiced around the world, and that show the self-immolation incident in Tiananmen Square in January 2001 was in fact staged.

In the Ukraine: Falun Dafa Practitioners participate in a Parade

• In mid-September 2002, Falun Dafa practitioners from Ukraine were invited to attend a celebration hosted by a local newspaper. The celebration began with a parade that crossed Kiev and ended at the central park. Although the Chinese Embassy has applied pressure to the Ukrainian media, after a year of observing Dafa and Dafa practitioners, reporters from the newspaper hosting the celebration thought very highly of Dafa practitioners. They always objectively reported the facts about Falun Gong.
• An amazing scene took place when the parade was about to set off. In the hall used for a dress rehearsal, a crowd of children shouted in unison: "Falun Dafa is good!" The children's voices touched the hearts of the people who heard them. After the parade, according to the program, the practitioners talked about the physical and mental benefits that they have received through cultivating Dafa and demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises as a group.

In Iceland: A Photo and A Chinese Painting Exhibition Receive Warm Response

• Through the coordinated efforts of Dafa practitioners from several countries, "The Journey of Falun Dafa" Photo Exhibition and Zhang Cuiying's Chinese Painting Exhibition were successfully held in the City Hall of Reykjavik, the Capital of Iceland.
• On the opening day, an Icelandic national TV station reported on the exhibitions during their evening news program. During the exhibition, Australian Artist Zhang Cuiying told visitors the benefits she has obtained in both mind and body through Falun Dafa cultivation and how Falun Dafa has made her art even more pure. She also exposed the Chinese regime's persecution of Falun Gong through her own experience in Chinese jails.
• The Chinese embassy exerted pressure on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Reykjavik City officials, asking them to remove the photo exhibition. These unreasonable demands were denied. After learning about the request, a city official was resolute saying, "Not a single photo should be taken down. This is Iceland, not China." They not only offered the exhibition hall free of charge but also provided some assistance.
• People were shocked to know that just because the artist Zhang Cuiying said 'Falun Dafa is good', she was detained for 8 months. A lady said after the exhibition, "The energy field of this exhibition is very strong." A staff member of the city hall said, "I also do painting. But these paintings are so pure."

And finally...

• Masanjia forced labour camp is notorious for its inhumane treatment of Dafa practitioners. During the summer of 2001 18 women were stripped and forced into the cells of male prisoners where they were gang raped.
• A Survivor of the camp tells her story.
• In October 1999, I was in one of the first groups of practitioners to be sent to the Second Brigade of the Second Women's Division of the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. The term for the so-called labour education was one year.
• Because I persisted in practicing the exercises, the guards intensified their persecution. I was forced to do very heavy manual labour, I was not allowed sufficient rest, and I was given little food.
• Worse still, I could not read the Dafa books for a long time, so I was under very severe pressure. However, with "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" in my heart, I managed to survive this difficult period.
• During my stay, I was forced to attend brainwashing sessions, where I was attacked from all sides and beaten with electric batons.
• When my sentence extension of three months was over, the labour camp declared that my term would be extended indefinitely for still not giving up my beliefs!
• At the time of the Chinese New Year 2001 I was tricked and forced into a car that took me to a psychiatric hospital.
• A doctor asked me a few questions and then said, "You refuse to be reformed then you are different from others." I was then declared as having schizophrenia and he prescribed drugs to me that cost about a month's wages. I repeatedly explained to him that I did not have any illness, and I refused to buy or take the prescribed drugs, but it was to no avail. This was because we were denied all of our rights.
• I did not even have the right to arrange for money to be sent in by my family. Once I wanted to give my money to a practitioner who had financial difficulties but the request was refused. In other cases, Falun Dafa practitioners were falsely diagnosed as having melancholia or as being manic-depressive.
• Every time they finished pouring the medicine down my throat, they would force me to stay in bed for half an hour. That was twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening. They said that they would continue to do this until I had some "good sense."
• While taking that medicine I lost the desire to eat and did not feel hungry. Also, I was easily startled. Whenever someone called my name, I would feel my heart jump and start to race. I always felt very tired, unsteady and could not concentrate. However, I had a very sober mind and good memory.
• Later on I learned that among those fellow women practitioners who served their terms together with me, the staunchest ones were sent to Dabei Prison, some had been confined in special cells and still others had their terms extended. Fellow practitioner Zou Guirong, after being transferred from place to place, was eventually tortured to death in a prison in Fushun City, Liaoning Province. Fellow practitioner Jiang Wei suffered a mental collapse from the extreme pressure and torture. Some other practitioners walked out of the forced labour camp nobly and righteously.

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