Video: FGM TV News - 06/18/2002

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Falun Gong is freely practiced in at lease 57 countries around the world, 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 all information, FGM TV brings you the stories you may not hear anywhere else.

Hello, and welcome to FGM TV on June 18^th, 2002

I'm Susan Mitchell.

The number of Falun Gong practitioners verified to have died as a result of mistreatment by Jiang Zemin's regime is 422. However, a new publication out of China that seems to have access to privileged information puts the actual number at over 7,000.

Our top story this week:

Evolution of a protest in Iceland and tremors around the world as Jiang Zemin's regime provides airlines with a blacklist of Falun Gong practitioners.

And some of our other stories:

• Successful press conferences in the Baltic countries during the Chinese President's visit
• 2 Falun Gong practitioners from Hong Kong have still not been released after being detained in mainland China several weeks ago
• Catastrophic floods in China
• Trial begins in Hong Kong of 16 Practitioners charged with obstruction
• Falun Dafa visits the Vatican in Rome.

Icelandic People Parade to Support Falun Gong

• Jiang Zemin was in Iceland last week and in preparation for his visit, all Falun Gong practitioners were denied entry to the country for several days until an avalanche of support from within and without the country brought about a change in the government's decision.
• This included letters of concern to the government from members of the European parliament about violating human rights treaties by denying entry to citizens of Europe, Canada and the US who held valid passports from those countries.
• In a dramatic display of solidarity with the Falun Gong practitioners who had been detained after landing in Rekyavik, on June 14 many warm-hearted Icelandic people sealed their mouths with strips of black cloth and paraded through the streets of Rekyavik.
• Protesting against their government's bowing to Jiang Zemin's request to prevent Falun Gong exhibitions during his visit, they held banners proclaiming the basic principles of Falun Gong: Truth, Compassion, Forbearance.

Apparent Lift on Ban Proves Untrue

• On June 13^th, practitioners in Toronto held a news conference outside the Consulate General of Iceland. They advised the media that IcelandAir was continuing to screen passengers, including Canadians, who have been blocked from boarding their flights because their names appear on a list of Falun Gong practitioners provided to airlines by the Chinese government. This action came as Chinese President Jiang Zemin was scheduled to make a visit to Iceland.
• Staff inside the Consulate refused to allow practitioners inside the building to deliver an envelope containing background information about Falun Gong, and a courier had to be hired to deliver the package.
• After pressure from Members of the European Parliament, U.S. Congressmen and many Icelandic people who are outraged by their government's action, the Icelandic government made an announcement to the media that the ban had been lifted.
• However, even after the announcement was made, Falun Gong practitioners, including ten Canadians, as well as Americans, Europeans and Australians were not allowed to board planes heading to Iceland.
• Two Canadians on connecting flights from London, England, five in Copenhagen, two in Oslo and one in France were denied boarding due to their names appearing on the blacklist.

Who Compiled this International List of Falun Gong Practitioners?

• Falun Gong has no membership, participation is voluntary and free with no obligation of any kind and there are no lists of practitioners.
• This leads one to ask how the names of Falun Gong practitioners from around the world have been compiled and put on this "blacklist" provided to IcelandAir by the Chinese government. Canadian practitioners from all walks of life have been denied boarding because the Chinese government has somehow gathered private information about their personal spiritual beliefs and compiled a list.
• IcelandAir officials in Europe report their orders came directly from Iceland's Minister of Justice. We have no doubt that the Icelandic government is under immense pressure from China to bar Falun Gong practitioners from entering Iceland during Chinese president Jiang Zemin's visit.

And in New York City...

• At noon on June 14, in spite of the rain, several human rights organizations jointly held a rally in front of the offices of the Permanent Representative of Iceland to the United Nations.
• The purpose was to protest the Icelandic government's accepting a blacklist provided by Jiang Zemin's regime which was used to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from entering the country, even though they held valid passports and airline tickets.
• Before flying to Iceland, the Chinese President visited Russia and the Baltic countries...
• Just as the Chinese delegation was arriving in Tallinn, Estonia, practitioners held a news conference in the Hotel Olympia, where the Chinese delegation was also staying.
• Although the news conference had been arranged only the previous night by telephone from Latvia, it was a huge success.
• More than 10 reporters came, representing all the major TV and radio stations and newspapers. At 9 p.m., ETV the most popular TV station in Estonia, broadcast an excellent report that clarified the truth about Dafa and the persecution in China.

We have some photographs of the news conferences:

• Reporters in Talinn, Estonia, listen intently during the presentation.
• Practitioners demonstrate the exercises during the Riga press conference.
• In Riga, Ms. Dai Zhizhen from Australia talks about the persecution her family has suffered.
• Channel 3 later provided extensive coverage -- up to five minutes -- which was much more than the time allotted to the Chinese President's visit.

moving now to Hong Kong...

3 Hong Kong Practitioners still being detained on the mainland

• With the Jiang's regime's illegal suppression of Falun Gong going on, two Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Yu-Chong Cheung and Mr. Suen (whose family doesn't want his full name to be disclosed) went to the Mainland last month and were forcibly detained by the police under the charge of carrying Falun Gong truth-clarifying materials. They have not been released yet.
• Another Hong Kong practitioner, Chu O-Ming was illegally detained in September 2000 for filing a lawsuit against Jiang Zemin for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. He is now known to be held somewhere in Northern China.
• and still in Hong Kong...
• Sixteen Falun Gong practitioners went on trial June 17^th for allegedly creating an obstruction by protesting in March outside the Chinese government liaison office.
• In Hong Kong's first criminal case against members of the meditation group, prosecutor Robert Lee said the defendants obstructed the public with their demonstration and created a potential obstruction by hoisting a banner urging Beijing to stop killing followers in the mainland.
• All 16 -- including four Swiss nationals -- face two counts of obstruction. Nine face stiffer charges of obstructing police, a charge that carries up to two years in prison.
• In a statement read to journalists before the trial started, the Falun Gong followers said they had a good case. Erich Bachmann, 40, who comes from the village of Kreuzlingen in northern Switzerland said, "It was impossible to believe that "our small, polite and peaceful appeal" had run afoul of the law in a civilized society like Hong Kong. Hong Kong, with its tradition of human rights, should be an example for human rights, law, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and freedom of belief," Bachmann continued. "China is killing so many innocent, goodhearted people. Is that right?"

Floods in China

• The BBC reported that there have been catastrophic floods in north-western China. Some local reports describe it as the worst in the area for more than a century.
• South of the city of Xian - normally an arid part of China - close to half a meter of rain fell in two days.
• The main east-west railway line linking China's coast to its vast inland provinces has been cut, power supplies have been interrupted, and about 4,000 acres of farmland are flooded, destroying at least 500 homes and cropland.
• The flooding in Shaanxi alone has washed out 13 bridges, 30 kilometers (20 miles) of highways and railway lines and has wrecked 29 hydropower stations, said a spokeswoman for the Shaanxi provincial flood control center. At least 150 people are reported dead, 266 are missing and more than 110,000 need emergency aid
• In Sichuan province, 27 people are reported dead and 15 missing including 14 in the worst-hit city of Suining, where 210,000 people are in need of emergency aid.
• "Casualties will certainly increase as the investigation continues," said the spokeswoman."
• A New Brainwashing Centre in Beijing
• Practitioners in China report that the notorious "610" office has occupied a classic compound in the Changping district of Beijing City to use as a brainwashing center.
• The 610 Office is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong. It has been granted absolute power over each level of government in China, including the judiciary system.
• People who have taken up residence in the compound include authorities known for their vicious behaviour, as well as former practitioners who have succumbed to brainwashing and who now work for the 610 Office.
• Practitioners are monitored so closely -- sometimes with 7 people surrounding 1 person -- that they cannot speak with each other.
• As in other detention centers, they are tortured by often being denied sleep, or by having to stand or squat for hours. If they close their eyes or move, they are badly beaten.
• In a disoriented state, when practitioners succumb to the torture and submit to being forced to write statements denouncing Falun Dafa, they are then put on television to spread lies that they have been converted.
• This causes many viewers who do not understand the truth, to harbor hatred towards Falun Gong.
• In his recent writings, the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi, has stated that if a person has negative thoughts towards Falun Dafa, the great law of the universe that created him or her, then they have put themselves in an extremely dangerous situation.

Throughout history, all the world's true religions have taught that good will be rewarded with good and evil with evil. Practitioners of Falun Dafa have recently reported the following examples from China:

• Mr. Qiang Wang, from the Zhangshi Forced Labor Camp of Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, used to have heart disease, but it was cured after he became a Falun Dafa practitioner. However, when he later turned against Falun Dafa, his illness returned, and he now has to rely on multiple forms of medication to survive. A formerly healthy and vibrant person is now a shadow of his former self as a result of being poisoned by the persecution.
• After turning against Falun Dafa and attempting to damage Dafa, Zhaohui Yang, a former practitioner, contracted amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -- also known as "Lou Gehrig's disease." It is a rare, progressive, degenerative, and fatal disease that affects the spinal cord and is characterized by increasing muscular weakness.
• Yubo, an officer from the Huashan Police Substation in Jimo City of Shandong Province was amongst those who persecuted Falun Dafa. One month ago he was suddenly killed in a car accident.
• Examples like these have been widely reported and have increased as the persecution has intensified.

On the other hand...

• A couple working for the security department of a company in Leshang City of Sichuan Province, had been suffering from diabetes and uremia , but after they learned the truth about Falun Dafa, they began secretly protecting practitioners.
• As a result of their righteous actions, both the husband and wife have noticed that their health is getting better and better.

Cyber Cafes closed in Beijing after killer fire...

• The Mayor of Beijing has used an overnight fire in Lanjisu Cyber Cafe in Beijing June 16, 2002 to temporarily close all Cyber Cafes in the city.
• At least 24 people were killed and 13 injured during the fire early on Sunday, the official Xinhua news agency reported. People were unable to escape the blaze because of iron burglar bars across the windows of the 2^nd floor unlicensed business in the university district.
• and finally...
• Falun Dafa banners grace St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in Rome. Practitioners also had the opportunity to speak with several of the priests in attendance about the brutal persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in China.

and...

It's summer again and the lotuses are on the move!

• On June 8, 2002, Falun Dafa practitioners in Iowa and nearby states participated in a parade held in two cities in the state of Iowa: Colo and the City of Jefferson.
• Things are a little more relaxed in the smaller cities of the USA and people enjoyed taking flyers as they sat in the brilliant sunshine amongst the trees and soft green grass.

Thanks for watching FGM TV, dedicated to breaking through China's information blockade, revealing propaganda, and bringing you the truth of Falun Gong.