(Clearwisdom.net on June 4, 2003)
Jiang Zemin has said openly that persecuting Falun Gong is carrying out the law. What "law" is he referring to, exactly?
I. Falun Gong Has Never Violated the Law
All activities related to Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) are open to the public. All of Master Li Hongzhi's works are officially published (originally in Mainland China as well), and are available for free download from Clearwisdom and Falundafa.org. The actions of Falun Gong are apolitical in nature and law-abiding.
Falun Dafa is a cultivation practice, which requires practitioners to be good people using Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance as a guide, upgrade their moral values, and purify their bodies. It has been proven that Falun Dafa has a huge effect on purifying people's minds and bodies, and that is why more and more people are practicing Falun Dafa. Falun Gong has received more than 800 proclamations worldwide, and is a legally recognized practice in many countries and regions (including Hong Kong), but not in Mainland China. Group practice of the Falun Gong exercises can be seen in more than 60 countries and regions around the world. Even in Mainland China, where Jiang and his regime have persecuted Falun Gong for over 4 years, Falun Dafa practitioners keep practicing, use peaceful means to clarify the truth, and no one ever breaks the law. Even many of those who are used to help in the persecution know that Falun Gong practitioners are good people.
II. The Chinese Authorities Have Shamefully Fabricated Lies to Slander Falun Gong
Jiang has demonized Falun Gong with lies and slander to justify his persecution of Falun Gong. In October 1999, after the persecution started, Jiang vilified Falun Gong while visiting France, and then later created an anti-cult law to target Falun Gong. The six characteristics of a cult that were outlined in this law do not relate to Falun Gong at all. On the contrary, they were more apt to describing the Party. In October 1999, there was a "special commentator" article published in the People's Daily (the official state newspaper) that went well past legal boundaries, and blatantly attacked and labeled Falun Gong, reminding people of what had happened during the Cultural Revolution. The kinds of conclusions regarding Falun Gong that were drawn were not based on facts and ignored the law. If Jiang respected the law, the persecution against Falun Gong would not have existed in the first place.
III. The "610 Office" Is Not a Legitimate Part of the Legal System. Its Actions Are Illegal.
In order to persecute Falun Gong, Jiang established the "610 Office", an agency with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems. There is a "610 Office" established in each system of government under Jiang's control, and acts above the government, the law, as well as the Constitution. Its specific purpose is to take charge of directing and planning the persecution against Falun Gong, actions very similar to the Cultural Revolution Leadership Group during the 1960s and 70s in Mainland China.
IV. State-Run Media Fabricate Lies to Pave the Way For the Persecution of Falun Gong
Jiang knows full well what kind of people practice Falun Gong, as well as what Falun Gong is. The rapid growth in numbers of people who practice Falun Gong in Mainland China has been closely watched. The People's Congress performed a thorough investigation and concluded that Falun Gong has benefited the country and its people in many ways without doing any harm. The Public Security Bureau carried out several inquiries, concluding that Falun Gong was apolitical and not a cause for concern. The National Physical Education Commission sent out a group of state officials and experts to investigate Falun Gong, recording and collecting a lot of data. They know without a doubt that Falun Gong played a valuable role in both one's mental and physical well-being. All of these results were reported to the highest central government, so Jiang is most certainly aware of these facts. Jiang could see the Falun Gong practitioners' demeanor during the April 25th, 1999 peaceful appeal. The fact is that Falun Dafa is good, Falun Dafa is welcomed, and these are the real reasons why Jiang, a paranoid dictator, carried out this persecution.
Of course, he would not want the world know his true reasons of why he persecutes Falun Gong. Jiang and his gang have threatened and coerced witnesses with force or money. We know some witnesses have come out to clarify the truth, such as Yuan Yuge, and have been cruelly tortured because of this. They habitually make up lies or twist the truth. On July 22nd, 1999, they used newspapers, radio, television, and all other media outlets to flood China and the world with their lies and propaganda, attacking and slandering Falun Gong as well as its founder, Master Li Hongzhi. Their state-run media has tried to produce new "evidence" at different stages using the same deceptive means, such as the tragic "Tiananmen self-immolation," "Consummation with suicide and homicide," etc. They use these fake dramas to fan hatred, deceive people, and lie to the world's governments and kindhearted people overseas. Some who heard believed their lies, and even more people did not step forward to defend justice to protect their personal interests, allowing Jiang's evil persecution to proceed.
Jiang's relentless persecution of Falun Gong is based on fabrications and controlling the media to influence public opinion. The law has never been a concern for him.
V. Strict Information Blockade - Jiang Keeps People of the World from Discovering the Truth
Lies are most vulnerable to the truth being exposed. Jiang has a lot of things to hide, so he severely blocks information while controlling the media to spread lies.
Jiang's group spent a great deal of money to hire a group of Internet special agents. The task given these special agents is to enforce the blockade of Falun Dafa websites and all online information that Jiang thinks is detrimental to his rule. In order to block information, Jiang ordered the purchase of some of the most advanced equipment in the world, paid for with taxpayers' hard-earned money, to block Minghui Net (Chinese version of Clearwisdom) and some other foreign based websites through different means, including using Internet special agents to monitor information exchanged online. These people also strictly control Internet cafes and individual Internet users in China. In addition, a variety of policies and forms of interference prevent people in China from accessing Minghui and other overseas-based websites. Their access to foreign radio broadcasts and T.V. programs is also blocked. People in China cannot hear and see anything other than the propaganda spread by the state-run media.
Jiang's group uses various methods to prevent Dafa practitioners from visiting Dafa websites. They are also doing everything possible to prevent practitioners from sending information about the persecution to the outside world and truth-clarification material. Jiang's group is using the latest equipment to spy on Dafa practitioners. They use monetary rewards to encourage people to report Dafa practitioners, and they forcibly abduct people whom they think are suspicious. For "suspicious" residences, police and military police would break in by force to arrest people and to confiscate property. Many Dafa practitioners have been arrested this way, given harsh sentences and brutally tortured.
Today, as people share information more and more rapidly and easily, Jiang's enforcers are going all out to bolster the information blockade. He is especially afraid of Minghui Net, and his actions fully reveal that he is afraid of his unspeakable crimes being exposed. He is afraid that the people of the world and the Chinese people will learn the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution against Falun Gong. He is afraid of the Chinese people knowing that the whole world is condemning his crimes.
VI. A Brief Summary of Jiang's Persecution Against Falun Gong in China
The majority of the Chinese people are not aware of the facts about the brutal persecution against Falun Gong because of the information blockade and slanderous propaganda. During nearly four years of persecution, Jiang has committed countless crimes. Below is a brief summary of the persecution:
1. After July 22, 1999, the authorities arrested Falun Gong practitioners from their homes and sent them to brainwashing classes. In rural China, the village community office is in charge of administrative affairs. In the city, work units and street committees take charge. They repeatedly talk to the practitioners to try to force them to give up Dafa, to turn in all Dafa materials and write guarantee statements. Assistants at Dafa practice sites who merely help out fellow practitioners were arrested, detained and interrogated individually. During that time, their homes were ransacked, and they were forced to tell of so-called organized activities held by Falun Gong. Later, some people criticized Falun Gong and promised not to practice, as they were required to do so by the government, and they were subsequently released. Usually, they had to pay a certain amount of bail money. If they were found to be still practicing, this money would be forfeited, and they would be arrested again. Some people were given prison sentences from three to eighteen years. For a very long time, television broadcasts consisted of daily Dafa-slandering programs and boasted a high "reform rate" of practitioners who were forced to give up Dafa practice. They also forced some former practitioners to speak on T.V., according to their demands. They forced people to give up Dafa and took away their Dafa books, which violated articles in the Chinese Constitution protecting the freedom of belief and the ownership of private property. When they force the practitioners to give up cultivation, they often curse and beat the practitioners. Some practitioners were even beaten to death. They also parade some practitioners in the streets to humiliate them, similar to what happened during the Cultural Revolution. Lu Guiwen, a practitioner in Yilan County, Heilongjiang Province suffered this indignity. Some government officials and workers used this opportunity to extort money from Dafa practitioners' families.
2. The use of lies and frame-ups can deceive people who don't know about Falun Gong. Pressure can silence people who understand Falun Gong, but for practitioners who have deeply benefited from Dafa cultivation, pressure will do just the opposite because they would be more determined in cultivation. At the same time, in order to be responsible for the people, for the nation, for Dafa and for themselves, as citizens of China, these practitioners exercised their rights endowed by the Chinese Constitution; they shared their experience of Dafa cultivation with the government on different levels, in person and in writing. They did so in hopes that the government would quickly correct its mistakes. However, the response they received was, "This is from the central government, an order from Jiang. There is nothing we can do." Under these circumstances, Dafa practitioners were forced to go to Beijing to appeal after overcoming numerous difficulties. Although the Appeals Office has always been seen as a bridge connecting the government and the people, a place where the people's voice could be heard, they set up many barricades and didn't allow the practitioners to enter. Practitioners who went to the Appeals Office were not only rejected, they were arrested by waiting plainclothes police who sent them to police departments in Beijing or in their local city to be abused. No one listened to them, and their appeal letters were not accepted. When all of their goodwill became "evidence of a crime," the practitioners were forced to go to Tiananmen to directly validate Dafa. Some practitioners quietly did the exercises; some directly told people, "Falun Dafa is good, Falun Dafa is the righteous Fa." And for that they were arrested. In Beijing, more police were dispatched to the train station, into the streets, at public locations and especially in Tiananmen Square to arrest Dafa practitioners. During the past few years, countless practitioners have been arrested in Tiananmen Square in front of the world, another piece of evidence of Jiang's persecution against Dafa practitioners.
The arrested practitioners were first sent to the Tiananmen Police Department, where, if their address were found out, they would be sent back to their local police department to be further persecuted. Other practitioners were sent to police departments and detention centers in Beijing and in surrounding areas, and some were directly sent to labor camps and prisons. Under the direction of the "610 Office," the practitioners were severely persecuted. For instance, the practitioners are routinely not allowed to sleep and interrogated around the clock. The police first ask, "Where do you come from?" In order not to let the police persecute their innocent family members and work unit superiors, the practitioners usually do not give their names and addresses. If they don't cooperate with the police, they would meet with violence such beatings with sticks, punches and kicks, being shocked with electric batons and burnt with lit cigarettes. The police lock the practitioners in metal cages and leave them outdoors for several days and nights. During the summer, the practitioners are exposed to the scorching sun, and at night mosquitoes attack them. In the winter, the police pour cold water on them. They have exhausted different ways to cruelly torture practitioners. Many practitioners have been pushed to the verge of death, and only heaven knows exactly how many practitioners have been tortured to death.
As lawful citizens of China, Dafa practitioners were only exercising their legal rights by expressing their opinion in Tiananmen Square, yet this is how they were treated. The freedom of belief and freedom of speech as guaranteed in the Chinese Constitution have long been reduced to empty promises.
3. All practitioners taken into custody are expected to "repent", give up Falun Gong, and promise not appeal or clarify the truth about Falun Gong anymore in order to be released. Such conditions are completely unacceptable to practitioners cultivating Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. If practitioners do not comply, they are detained for 15-30 days under the charge of "disturbing social order". The length of detention depends on whether the practitioners "transform" as the authorities require. At the very least the authorities try to force them to write a guarantee letter or sign one that was written for them. As required by the higher authorities, the practitioners' work supervisors, co-workers, families, and relatives are mobilized to talk to the practitioners. In addition, intimidation, threats, and brutal beatings are employed to "transform" practitioners to give up Falun Gong. Practitioners are released as soon as the above criteria are met; if not, practitioners are detained indefinitely. For example, Zhu Chunrong from Harbin City is being held at Harbin No. 1 Detention Center, under the jurisdiction of Harbin Public Security No.7 Department. He was arrested on the train to Beijing in September 1999, and was kept in detention at No.2 Detention Center, also known as Yazijuan, until September 2000. After he went to Beijing to appeal in the spring of 2001, Zhu was arrested again and sent to Harbin Wanjia Forced Labor Camp, where he continues to be abused.
As the persecution of Falun Gong escalates, not only those that go to appeal are detained, but also those who continue to practice and clarify the truth to the public. Practitioners are rounded up from their homes, workplaces and the streets, and they are taken to brainwashing centers. Those who refuse to cooperate are detained. Even detention centers have become brainwashing centers that use force to get practitioners to give up the practice. No one knows exactly how many practitioners have been detained in the past four years. The detention centers holding practitioners are often filled to capacity. In 2000, during peak periods, I was twice held in a detention center. Twenty-five practitioners were held in rooms with a maximum capacity of 16 people that normally hold only 10 people. During the day, practitioners had to sit very close to each other, and at night, they had to sleep on their sides. We were packed together like sardines. One can imagine what it was like during the hot summer weather--especially in late July. When it comes to the detention of Falun Gong practitioners, no rules or regulations apply.
4. Forced labor camps in China are the product of the abuse of the law, which is why the international community has been appealing to the Chinese government to abolish the system. In the past few years, forced labor camps have become the backbone for Jiang's persecution of Falun Gong. In Harbin City, for example, there are three forced labor camps: Wanjia, Changlinzi, and the Drug Rehabilitation Center. There are many more in Heilongjiang Province.
Among those sent to forced labor camps are seniors in their 60s and 70s, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and survivors of serious illnesses who became healthy after practicing Falun Gong. In 2001, before the Spring Festival, a 10-year-old boy was sent to the Harbin Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp from Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province. The sentencing of practitioners completely disregards China's laws and the people's rights--all in order to persecute Falun Gong.
My experience at the forced labor camp indicated that the main task of the staff was to force the practitioners to give up Falun Gong and comply with the authorities demands, including writing the "Three Letters" (Letter of Breaking With Falun Gong, Letter of Guarantee [not to practice], and Letter of Repentance). There are templates for the guards to use. When a practitioner promises not to practice, he is asked to copy the letters. Then this practitioner would be transferred from the Strict Category to the Lenient Category. (There are three categories in the forced labor camps: Strict, Regular, and Lenient). Then practitioners are required to defame Falun Gong like they do in the media, and they are also required to use themselves as examples to show how they were "victimized" by following Falun Gong's principles, even if they had benefited from the practice. If practitioners do not meet these requirements, their full terms must be served. If practitioners comply, they are released early, and the forced labor camp can also submit their "achievements" and attain rewards.
The Falun Gong practitioners tell the guards in the forced labor camps, with their hearts, their personal experiences of practicing Falun Dafa, the principles of Falun Gong, and how they have benefited. Even those who are not well-educated can answer the guards' questions eloquently. This occurs because Falun Dafa not only cleanses one's mind and body, but also develops one's wisdom. The guards are often left speechless. Sometimes, they do not allow practitioners to speak, sealing their mouths shut with duct tape. To force practitioners to give up the practice, the guards resort to every means imaginable.
One of the most common techniques is to assign two people for each practitioner to brainwash and bombard him with lies all day long. The police also make up lies or quote Master Li out of context to confuse practitioners and lead them astray.
Hard labor is another technique used to wear down the practitioners. The crowded living conditions, small portions of poor food, and limited access to daily necessities make it all the more unbearable for practitioners. If a practitioner does not write a guarantee letter, he is deprived of visitation days with his family. Even the clothing brought by the practitioners' families are not forwarded.
The police also frequently make use of physical torture. When a practitioner is sent to the Group Camp, they are actually sent to an Isolation Room to be tortured. Inmates and police officers beat practitioners, shock them with electric batons, force them to squat for hours, tie them up and make them stand in one position for days and nights, make them sit on metal chairs for extended periods of time, and hang them up while they are tied up. One of the cruelest tortures is tying practitioners' hands behind their backs and hanging them up with a rope linked to their wrists. The length of the rope is adjusted so that practitioners' toes just touch the ground, causing excruciating pain on the wrists. They are not let down until they agree to sign the letters. On June 19 and 20, over twenty practitioners were hung up that way in the No.7 Isolation Room of Wanjia Forced Labor Camp. Ma Bingjuan's request to go to the washroom was refused, forcing her to relieve herself in her pants. Yang Xiuli's urine dripped onto the floor, and policeman Wu Baoyun screamed at her and then pushed the mop soiled with the urine into her mouth. Some practitioners are injected with drugs that immobilize them. In April 2001, Guo Mingxia was summoned to the office while she was on a hunger strike at the No.7 Brigade of Wanjia Forced Labor Camp. She was injected with some drug that caused her to become extremely weak. She was then taken to the Isolation Room and later to Wanjia Hospital. She did not recover even after several months of hospitalization. One of the perpetrators was Lin, Deputy Leader of the No.7 Brigade. The torture methods used to torture practitioners are countless. To serve their purposes, the guards resort to whatever means are at hand.
If practitioners refuse to give up the practice, they are not released even when their terms are completed, be it one, two, or three years. Starting in August 2001, due to the protests of practitioners and kind-hearted people around the world and other factors, some of those practitioners who had been jailed beyond their terms were released. Many practitioners are still being imprisoned beyond their terms. In addition, some of those who had been released were arrested again and sent to forced labor camps.
5. Some Dafa disciples were secretly thrown into jail. Since 2002, most of the practitioners who were arrested under various pretexts have been illegally sentenced to prison, many with very long terms. This reflects the fact that the Jiang regime has intensified the persecution. The trial of Dafa practitioners has never followed any legal procedure. The court totally disregards the facts and does not allow practitioners to plead not guilty. There is no justice whatsoever. Moreover, trials of Dafa practitioners are often carried out secretly because the authorities do not want their crimes to be exposed. Policemen are stationed everywhere in the courtroom to arrest practitioners who show up at the trial.
Is there anything wrong with the Dafa disciples' cultivating "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance"? Is there anything wrong with practitioners' spreading the truth of Dafa, the facts of the persecution and what it means to the world? Jiang and his cohorts are the ones who should be put on trial for trampling on human rights and the law, and viciously persecuting Dafa disciples.
6. In some places in China, Dafa practitioners are forcibly sent to mental hospitals to be persecuted. A perfectly healthy person is treated as a mental patient and injected with various drugs. If practitioners refuse to cooperate, they are subjected to brutal torture.
7. Some Dafa practitioners are forced to leave home in order to avoid further persecution. They are forced to go from place to place for days, months, and sometimes year after year. At the same time, they have to be wary of possible arrest. One can imagine what kind of tough situation they are in. They are law-abiding citizens who have done nothing wrong. Just because they practice Falun Gong, they are chased like criminals. In order to track down Dafa practitioners, some rail stations and bus stations place the picture of the founder of Falun Gong on the ground and force passengers to step on it before they can check in. Whoever refuses to do so are considered a Dafa practitioner and arrested. Even after passengers board the train, there are still policemen searching for practitioners. They will ask passengers to curse the founder of Falun Gong. Whoever does not cooperate is arrested.
8. For practitioners who just practice at home or who have been released from labor camps or detention centers, there are still all kinds of persecution awaiting them. They are forced to be fingerprinted, and their personal information and photos are saved for tracking purposes. Practitioners' workplaces, street offices, and local police stations regularly monitor Dafa practitioners and trace their daily activities. They are constantly under surveillance. Whenever holidays or politically sensitive days approach, these practitioners will receive special attention. In 2000, before the "Two Congresses" (the People's Congress Meeting and the Political Consultative Meeting) were held, Dafa practitioners were asked to sign a guarantee that they would not go to Beijing to appeal during that period, or they would be sent to brainwashing classes or put under house arrest. Later on, since Dafa practitioners refused to cooperate, the authorities changed their tactics. They now tap practitioners' phone calls and confiscate their IDs, which makes it very hard for practitioners to travel freely. Whenever they think there is anything suspicious or they receive a new order from their superiors, the police would arrest practitioners at any time. For example, not long after a practitioner was released, he was arrested again and sent to a labor camp. When questioned why, the authorities explained that there is a quota for practitioners to be sent to forced labor camps. The quota and the forced labor camp itself are both totally illegal. For Dafa practitioners in China, the persecution can find them anywhere at any time.
In China, practitioners' lives and property cannot be protected and they are deprived of their basic rights bestowed by the Chinese Constitution. Some practitioners are demoted, dismissed, or forced to resign from work. Some have to retire at an earlier age. Some farmer practitioners have had their land confiscated. Some young Dafa practitioners are expelled from school. Some practitioners who have already been admitted to universities or graduate school, have their admission cancelled. Some practitioners have finished their Masters or PhD thesis, but their schools refuse to confer them with degrees unless they give up their belief in Dafa.
Moreover, family members of Dafa practitioners are also implicated in many ways. Some practitioners' children have great difficulty being admitting to school, finding a job, enlisting in the army, or going abroad to study, etc. Husbands and wives are forced to divorce their practitioner spouses. Because so many practitioners have lost their personal freedom, countless families have been broken apart, leaving the elderly and the children uncared for.
Jiang and his "610 Office" have persecuted Dafa practitioners and severely violated their human rights. In order to escape the condemnation from the international community, Jiang launched a massive signature campaign and other endeavors to mask the truth of what is happening in China. He forced people to sign their names in support of his persecution of Falun Gong. Many people were forced to sign against their wills. How many of them really know the facts about Dafa? How many of them know the facts about the persecution? If the persecution is legitimate, does Jiang still need to force the citizens to declare their opposition to Falun Gong?
In the nearly four years of persecution against Falun Gong, Jiang has completely ignored the law and the Chinese Constitution. The police and judiciary departments have been reduced to his tools to persecute Falun Gong, and the media his propaganda machine. What Jiang has done to persecute Falun Gong is a gross violation of international and Chinese laws, and the most blatant abuse of human rights. Jiang should be the one who is put on trial, so that he can receive his due punishment.
