Italian AGI news agency: In China, people are killed because they practice Falun Gong

Rome, June 28 (AGI news agency)

Dai Zhizen, 38, and her 2-year-old daughter are both Australian citizens but obviously have Chinese origins. She had lived in Haizhu District, Guangzhou City, Guandong Province, and her husband used to be an electrician, but was killed because he was a Falun Gong practitioner. Falun Gong, a spiritual movement originating in Chinese Buddhism, emphasizes the harmonious circulation of energy. It brings immense benefits to health.

Dai Zhizen told her story in a press conference organized by Human Rights group "Hands off Cain". The Annual Report of "Hands Off CAIN" featured her story with a full page article.

The Chinese regime has harshly suppressed this movement, which had successfully organized a mass demonstration on April 25, 1999, to protest against the Government's intentions to define them as [slanderous term omitted] (Editors' note: This incident was in fact a peaceful appeal to the authorities for the release of illegally detained practitioners.) Since then there have been over 50000 arrested. 428 persons have been cruelly tortured to death by the police. One of them is Mr. Cheng Chenyoung, Ms. Dai's husband, who first lost his job because he attended the appeal. Later on, he was arrested because he held up a Falun Gong banner in Tiananmen Square on December 31, 2000. In July, 2001, his corpse was found but it had already begun to deteriorate, preventing the cause and date of his death from being established. The Australian government helped Ms Zhizen retrieve her husband's ashes from China. Nevertheless, compared to the millions of others who never knew the fate of their loved ones, she is lucky.