News and Events from Around the World
- Worldwide Activities Mark April 25th, Call for End to Half-decade of Persecution
- Human Rights Groups Push for Greater Freedoms of Belief and Expression in China
- Chinese Official Served With Lawsuit While Visiting United States
- Speech from the office of Congressman Tom Lantos, at San Francisco's Portsmouth Square on the 5th Anniversary of the April 25 Appeal
- USA: Assistant Secretary of State Says that China's Human Rights Record Remains Poor
- German MP: "We Will Urge China to Honor Human Rights after the 60th Session of UNHRC Meeting"
- Renowned Lawyer Chris Nyst: Civilized Countries' Commitment To Preventing Human Rights Violations Cannot Be Overridden
- Union of Students in Ireland Passes Resolution to Condemn Chinese Government for Its Continued Human Rights Abuses in Particular in Regard to Falun Gong Movement
- Student Senate of UC-Berkeley Passes a Resolution to Condemn the Oppression of Falun Gong in China
- China: Deaths of 25 Falun Gong Practitioners Verified in March
- China: Ms. Zou Wenyu Goes Blind after being Injected with Unknown Drugs at the Baimalong Forced Labor Camp
- China: Accused of Broadcasting Documentary Programs on TV in Hebei Province, Mr. Cheng Fengxiang Has Bamboo Slivers Jammed Under His Fingernails
- China: Five Persons Receive Heavy Sentences for Exposing Police's Sexual Abuse against Female Falun Gong Practitioner
- Reuters: Falun Gong Sues Chinese Minister in U.S. Court
- Radio Free Asia New Book "Wild Grass" Released in the USA--a Story of Grassroots Movements in China
- Swiss Newspaper Tribune de Genève: Victims Testify of Economic Slavery in Chinese Labor Camps
- AFP: China steps up Internet control with video surveillance in public places
Falun Gong Practitioners' Personal Experience
- Ovarian Cancer Disappears After Practicing Falun Gong for Two Weeks
- Lymphoma Patient Completely Recovers after Practicing Falun Gong
The People Awaken to the Truth
- Villagers Stop the Police from Arresting a Falun Gong Practitioner
- China: A Police Officer Quits His Job at "610 Office"
News and Events from Around the World
Worldwide Activities Mark April 25th, Call for End to Half-decade of Persecution
Practitioners of Falun Gong will mark April 25 this Sunday with activities around the world, renewing the call for Beijing to end a five-year campaign of suppression that legal experts have come to term genocide.
It was on April 25, 1999, that Falun Gong stunned the world when some 10,000 adherents petitioned the central government in Beijing. Those gathering asked officials to redress maltreatment by the Public Security Bureau and a defamatory article in breach of national policy on qigong.
"It's a bittersweet occasion," said Erping Zhang, a spokesperson for the group. "April 25 was a peaceful response to police brutality and months of illegal activity by security personnel. What's tragic is, the regime's head, Jiang Zemin, used the occasion and launched a campaign to 'eradicate' Falun Gong."
"But at the same time, there's a message of hope in April 25. Thousands of people, from all walks of life, went together to their government to report on unlawful activities. It was a show of good citizenship, you could say. And that same peaceful approach has come to be Falun Gong's hallmark under horrible, brutal suppression."
The Sunday events continue that tradition of peaceful demonstration. Dozens of cities are expected to participate, with events ranging from panel discussions and photo exhibits, to marches, candlelight vigils, and sit-ins outside Chinese consulates. Participating cities range across the US, Canada, Europe, and elsewhere.
The peaceful, apolitical events ride on the momentum of several major human rights lawsuits targeting Chinese officials, and challenge Jiang Zemin's claim that Falun Gong is somehow a threat to the communist regime's power.
Falun Gong's founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi, recently addressed the regime's accusation in his first media interview in several years, granted to New Tang Dynasty Television.
"The fact is, when it comes to worldly political power, to the authority somebody has, we're not interested in that. We absolutely, positively don't want to seize the Communist Party's power. We're just doing self-cultivation," Li said, continuing, "that's part of the propaganda the Party's rumor-mongering media spreads, and from day one they've been fabricating stuff about us vying for power with the Communist Party."
"All we're asking is to have some space that allows us to follow our beliefs," Li added, "to have our personal freedom to do our practice. That's all."
Human Rights Groups Push for Greater Freedoms of Belief and Expression in China
On Thursday, April 8, Chinese human rights groups and Chinese human rights activists held a rally in front of the United Nations in New York City. They are calling on the world body to support a U.S. draft resolution urging China to allow investigations of reports that it is repressing freedom of expression and religion.
According to a report from Times of Tibet on April 9, Alliance to
Oppose Persecution in China (ATOPIC), an NGO based in New York hosted the
gathering. There were as many as sixty different organizations gathered together
voicing against the violation of Human
Rights by the Chinese government. Participating organizations included Global
Coalition to Bring Jiang Zemin to Justice, Committee for Investigation
Persecutions of Religion in China, Chinese Democracy Alliance, Taiwan
Association of America, Transitional Radical Party and Activist in Democracy.
Voice of America also reported the event. It said that several hundred people gathered in front of the United Nations to show their support for the resolution, which the United States has presented to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
The report quoted Mr. Haiying He, one of the rally's organizers, who pointed out that condemning China's human rights violations is a top priority, followed by a call for the release of religious and political prisoners. He added, "Number two is to call for immediate release of all those millions of persecuted Falun Gong practitioners, underground church members, Tibetans, democracy activists who are imprisoned or tortured or persecuted because of their conscience."
According to the VOA report, human rights advocates say China is persecuting its citizens based on their religious and political beliefs.
Representatives from several organizations delivered speeches.
According to the VOA report, Yufeng Liang, another rally organizer, feels demonstrations like these give hope to those persecuted in China. "Here we give encouragement for people in China fighting for democracy and also for those people persecuted," he said. "They will see so many people support them, to help rescue them and also we will let more and more people know the persecution in China."
Chinese Official Served With Lawsuit While Visiting United States
Bo Xilai Charged with Genocide Against Falun Gong Practitioners in China
Bo Xilai, the Minister of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, was served with a lawsuit today during his visit to the United States. The complaint, brought by Li Weixun and others, alleges such serious human rights abuses as torture, genocide and other crimes against humanity carried out while persecuting Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Bo Xilai was served with papers in front of the Fairmont Hotel (2401 M Street, N.W.) in Washington D.C. around 6:35 p.m. on April 22, 2004. A copy of the Summons, Complaint, Notice of Right to Consent to Trial before the Magistrate Judge were hand delivered to the defendant, Bo Xilai, in civil case no. 1.04CV00649 (Li Weixun v. Bo Xilai). The documents were filed this morning in the United States District Court of the District of Columbia by attorney Morton Sklar and attorney Lana Han.
According to the process server, the defendant identified himself and accepted the legal papers, but then realizing he had been served with a lawsuit, proceeded to throw the papers on to the ground. The defendant's entourage immediately physically attacked the process server.
On March 9th, 2004, "Friends of Falun Gong" and "The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong" (WOIPFG) submitted a list of 102 key responsible persons in the persecution of Falun Gong to the U.S. government, including Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jing, Zhou Yongkang, Li Lanqing, Wang Maolin, etc., and urged the U.S. government to prohibit these people from entering the U.S. Bo Xilai's name is on both of the lists.
Bo Xilai is also among the defendants listed in a criminal lawsuit filed with the Federal Prosecutors Office in Germany by forty Falun Gong practitioners. The charges here again: genocide and crimes against humanity.
For background on Bo Xilai's crimes, please visit http://faluninfo.net/displayAnArticle.asp?ID=8535
Speech from the office of Congressman Tom Lantos, at San Francisco's Portsmouth Square on the 5th Anniversary of the April 25 Appeal
Good Afternoon! I am very appreciative to be able to represent Congressman and Mrs. Lantos today at the invitation of Falun Gong practitioners.
First I want to express an appreciation and greetings to all the guests of San Francisco Bay Area who may be in the square today.
Second I want to express respect and appreciation to all those who usually consider Portsmouth Square their home, their daily gathering and meeting place, their social home, civic home, those Chinese American people, who we are visiting and whose guests we are today in some way. Thank you.
Third, I want to express admiration to all of the Falun Gong practitioners who have been sitting here a long time in the sun and I encourage you very much if you begin to feel a little faint, to stand up and sit over in the shade for a short time. It will not be rude, it will be taking care of yourself, which is a good thing.
And fourth, not necessary in that order and could be in any order, I want to express respect and friendliness to representatives, either official and unofficial, of Chinese consulate and Chinese government, who may be there today to listen and to report back as to what is happening at this very quiet and peaceful commemoration of the 5th anniversary of the Chinese government's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and their defamation of Falun Gong practitioners all over the world.
The Congressional Human Rights Caucus is a group of more than 200 members of the US Congress. Congressman and Mrs. Lantos are co-founders. It is bi-partisan. There are Democratic and Republican Co-Chairs, and also Democratic and Republican members of the Congressional Human Right Caucus. The Congressional Human Right Caucus, and I as Congressman Tom Lantos' Human Rights staff member in the district, learned about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China very shortly after it began to happen about 5 years ago in 1999. We learned that about approximately 10,000 very peacefully appealed in Tianjin, I believe it was, regarding the defamation that happened there, and very peacefully, when they were directed to do so, went to Beijing to appeal to the correct office that they were told to appeal to, about the mistreatment beginning at that time. And they were guided to stand around a major government building because there were so many of them. They were directed very quietly and peacefully. A few of practitioners were allowed to meet and did meet leadership of Chinese government at that time, and very peacefully dispersed, and only expressed their concern that many millions of Chinese Falun Gong practitioners not begin to be defamed. Because in fact, Falun Gong practitioners are friends of everyone in china. They practice Truth, Compassion and Tolerance for everyone and that includes everyone in Chinese government that has been so badly misbehaved.
It is a pity that Chinese government has behaved with such ignorance, with ignorance of such a very long and profound tradition within China, of which Falun Gong is a modern representation. The many wise classics written by many wise scholars of various persuasions in China over the last thousands of years should be instruction to the current Chinese government that they will do much better in dealing with and working with Falun Gong practitioners, to have a dialog and to engage in enough openness so that Falun Gong practitioners can do the only thing they ask for: which is - to practice quietly and openly, a very non-threatening behavior and very healthy behavior for all of China; to practice Truth, which is very hard, trying always to tell the truth; to practice Compassion, always being compassionate about how to tell that truth; and to practice always being tolerant and forbearing in exercising Truth and Compassion. The Chinese government would be so much wiser, and we hope they eventually will, were they to engage a dialog with Falun Gong practitioners, or even just let them be, it would be no harm to them. It would be a slow benefit and healing benefit to all of China.
Truth Compassion and Forbearance are some of deepest values for thousand of years, as I respectfully understand the Chinese culture. China has at times followed a more socialist way and there had been those who believed strongly in socialism quite truthfully that that was best for China. China more recently is following a more Capitalist growth way or trying to combine (them), Falun Gong practitioners are not threatening to any way of trying to make China better or any combination of it. They don't speak about politics at all. They just imply: please what we want to do, what we believe in, is Truth, Compassion and Forbearance and that would include, of course, forbearance to those who had made mistakes so the Chinese government couldn't hope for a better friend than Falun Gong practitioners.
Human Rights Caucus and members of Congressional Human Rights Caucus have had, entertained and sponsored many programs urging the Chinese government to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. Today again on this solemn occasion of this 5 year commemoration, of the beginning of the persecution and defamation of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese government, we ask most deeply and sincerely once again to the Chinese government: please do what is best for you, Chinese government rulers, and what is best for China and what is right. Please stop persecuting practitioners of Falun Gong and stop defaming practitioners of all Falun Gong over the world.
Thank you!
USA: Assistant Secretary of State Says that China's Human Rights Record Remains Poor
On April 22, 2004, Lorne W. Craner, United States Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor expressed in a hearing hosted by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that China's human rights record remains poor.
Craner said, "The Chinese Government's mistreatment of its citizens is manifest. Most recently, we have noted increased surveillance of the Internet and detention of those who express opinions about democracy. Democracy activists and some spiritual or religious adherents, including Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims and the Falun Gong practitioners, continue to suffer harsh treatment. We have received reports of religious adherents being mistreated or beaten in prison. We have regularly raised the need for prison reform, the right of children to receive religious training, and our extreme disappointment over egregious abuses against religious groups. Mr. Chairman, this Administration has repeatedly - and at the highest levels - expressed strong concern, publicly and privately, over the detention of persons for the peaceful expression of their faith or political views and over restrictions on religious freedom, and we will continue to do so."
Craner pointed out, "These concerns were deepened by the Chinese Government's failure to carry out commitments made to U.S. officials to work with the UN Special Rapporteurs on Torture and Religious Intolerance and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention made during the December 2002 Human Rights."
He continuted, "This backsliding prompted President Bush to authorize the State Department to pursue a resolution criticizing China's human rights practices at the meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva this month." Said Craner, "we urged members of the Commission to join us in expressing 'concern about continuing reports of severe restrictions on freedom of assembly, association, expression, conscience and religion, legal processes that continue to fall short of international norms of due process and transparency, and arrests and other severe sentences for those seeking to exercise their fundamental rights."
Although the Chinese Government was successful in getting a sufficient number of members to vote in favor of a "no-action" motion, Craner said, "But our work in Geneva was not in vain. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture will indeed visit China at the end of June. And now the European Union is factoring China's human rights situation more prominently in its calculus of whether to lift its arms embargo against China. In pursuing a resolution at the Commission, we made a strong statement about our unwavering concern over the human rights situation in China. Other countries and the Chinese government itself have been compelled to take notice of our concern. And those who fight courageously every day to have their voices heard know that the United States has not forsaken and will not forsake them."
Craner stated, "We have an obligation to speak out against the lack of freedom and protection of human rights in China because we see the people of China doing this for themselves on a weekly basis."
"In other words, we see individual, ordinary Chinese doing the extraordinary week after week, month after month. And I believe that we have the responsibility to support these extraordinary efforts and try to expand the political and legal space so that individual Chinese can keep pushing the boundaries." Said Craner.
In the end, Craner summarized, "With regard to China, I believe our best policy is to speak out against human rights abuses, as we did this month in Geneva, and to encourage the reforms that are making such significant inroads there, as we are doing annually through the State Department's Democracy, Human Rights and Rule of Law Program."
German MP: "We Will Urge China to Honor Human Rights after the 60th Session of UNHRC Meeting"
German MP Mr. Hermann Groehe is also the President of the Christian Democratic Party's branch of the Government's Human Rights Association. On April 6, 2004, he wrote a letter in reply to German Falun Gong practitioners stating that he agreed with the EU's decision of supporting the U.S resolution on condemning China for its human rights performance.
Mr. Groehe acknowledged practitioners' letter of April 1 as well as the enclosed leaflet that provided the latest information on Falun Gong practitioners' conditions in mainland China. Mr. Groehe said, "The politics and human rights issue inside China have always been the main concern of our work on human rights. We have not only raised the issue of Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted in China to our own government, but also to the Chinese Government a number of times."
Mr. Groehe also said, "In a meeting which was held by the government's human rights working group, after listening to an official report on the 60th session of UNHRC meeting, we urged our government to take action on solving China's problems and to support the U.S. resolution on condemning China's human rights violations at the UN Human Rights Conference. [...]
He also presumed that, "Like what happened in the previous years, this year, the UN Human Rights Committee Group will receive a 'no-action' plan for the U.S resolution." He added: "As far as I know, the EU will definitely reject this sort of 'no-action' plan. If the UN Human Rights Committee can raise the issue of China, at least, Germany for sure will support the U.S resolution. When the 60th session of UNHRC Meeting is over, the Human Rights Working group in Germany will give an overall summary of our previous work, and our focus will lie in the question of how to solve China's problems. Don't worry, we will keep our focus on China and try out best efforts to urge China to abide by its human rights obligations."
Renowned Lawyer Chris Nyst: Civilized Countries' Commitment To Preventing Human Rights Violations Cannot Be Overridden
April 12, 2004
Celebrated UK Human Rights lawyer, author and playwright, Mr. Geoffrey Robertson QC, has joined forces with high profile Australian lawyer, author and filmmaker, Mr. Chris Nyst, and a group of Australian university students, to compile a 500 page complaint to the Human Rights Commission detailing instances of shocking abuse by Chinese prison guards and government officials perpetrated on an Australian citizen.
A 36 page statement included in the complaint of Cui Ying Zhang tells how on four separate occasions in 1999 and 2000 Chinese authorities:
- arrested her without lawful grounds;
- administratively detained her without lawful grounds;
- held her incommunicado for prolonged periods;
- denied her any opportunity to test the legality of her detention; and
- subjected her to torture, inhuman and degrading treatment in order to suppress her freedoms of expression, religion and belief.
On the last occasion Ms Zhang claims that for a period of eight months between March and November of 2000, she was held in several Chinese prisons after she refused to renounce her beliefs in Falun Gong, the physical and spiritual practice for which she alleges she was imprisoned. In her statement she details how she was repeatedly beaten during lengthy interrogations, was shackled, kicked and punched, stripped naked and was deprived of sleep, food and water for periods of up to four days.
In one Chinese detention center she was held in the male section of the prison along with 12 other female prisoners in a cell with a glass window in the door.
"Every time a male prisoner or guard walked past (every ten minutes or so) they could see straight into my cell. Both the shower and the toilet were in full view of this window. I remained in this cell in fear of the male prisoners and guards for about a month", Ms Zhang said.
"The male prisoners were encouraged by the guards to watch us shower and go to the toilet. Some male prisoners would masturbate while they watched us".
Despite the horrific conditions within which she was forced to live, Ms Zhang continued to practice her Falun Gong exercises.
"Whenever a guard caught me practicing my exercises they would push me to the ground and kick me with their boots all over my body. They would curse me, pull my hair, splash water on me and use hard objects to hit me. My body was bruised for the entire eight months of my detention. Although I was exhausted, I felt too much pain to fall asleep at night."
In a further effort to stop Ms Zhang practicing her exercises whilst incarcerated she alleges that the guards shackled and handcuffed her to the bars on the cell window.
For the last three months of her detention Ms Zhang was forced to labor for sixteen hours a day, seven days a week. She tells of how she was subjected to repeated beatings by prison guards and lived in constant fear for her life.
According to Falun Gong practitioners, Ms Zhang is only one of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners who have been imprisoned by Chinese authorities without charge since the movement was renounced [...] by the Chinese government in 1999. At the end of the year 2003, Amnesty International released a report that claimed, according to overseas sources, the death toll of those detained in connection with their practice of Falun Gong has now risen to over 700 people, mostly as a result of torture and ill-treatment.
Speaking from Geneva today, Mr. Nyst said that the world community could no longer accept China's flagrant disregard of an individual's basic human rights.
"In many ways, China is the new frontier for the western business world and a land of great opportunity", Mr. Nyst said.
"In my own country of Australia, our government is involved in negotiations for major export deals with China, and large scale private commercial interests within Australia are vying for major contracts including pay television rights in China. These matters should not be permitted to override Australia's, or any other civilized countries' commitment to preventing human rights violations".
Mr. Nyst applauded the involvement of the young Australian law students who helped research and compile the complaint. The fledgling group is part of a new Australian University project, founded by Mr. Nyst, in an effort to heighten youth awareness of international human rights violations.
Union of Students in Ireland Passes Resolution to Condemn Chinese Government for Its Continued Human Rights Abuses in Particular in Regard to Falun Gong Movement
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) Passed a Resolution during the USI National Congress 2004 to Condemn Chinese Government for Its Continued Human Rights Abuses in Particular in Regard to the Falun Gong Movement. The resolution demanded that the Chinese Government immediately releases the two Dun Laoghaire Students Feng Liu and Fang Yang.
FALUN GONG AND IRISH STUDENTS IN CHINA
Congress notes:
That Falun Gong is a spiritual movement and Congress believes that everyone has the right to follow their rights and beliefs with out victimisation and intimidation.
Congress condemns:
The Chinese Government for its continued human rights abuses in particular in regard to the Falun Gong Movement.
Congress commends:
The campaign run by USI, TCD SU and the GSU to free Zhao Ming a TCD student who was held in a Chinese Labour Camp and was freed due to the pressure placed on the Chinese Government by the Student Movement and the Irish Government.
Congress further condemns:
The imprisonment of the two Dun Laoghaire Students Feng Liu and Fang Yang who are members of the Falun Gong Movement.
Congress demands:
That the Chinese Government immediately releases the two Dun Laoghaire Students Feng Liu and Fang Yang.
Congress mandates:
That the Deputy President and Officer Board will work with the appropriate organisations including the Department of Foreign Affairs to highlight the plight of the two Dun Laoghaire students Feng Liu and Fang Yang and ensure that they are freed.
Student Senate of UC-Berkeley Passes a Resolution to Condemn the Oppression of Falun Gong in China
Student Senate of University of California - Berkeley
RESOLUTION TO CONDEMN THE OPPRESSION OF FALUN GONG
WHEREAS, at numerous colleges and universities in California and across the United States, the student body includes Falun Gong practitioners, and student organizations include Falun Gong clubs; and
WHEREAS, Falun Gong is a peaceful self-cultivation practice deeply rooted in traditional Chinese culture, with 100 million practitioners in over 60 countries; and
WHEREAS, Falun Gong practitioners aspire to have inner peace and physical health through qigong exercise, meditation, and adherence to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance; and
WHEREAS, on July 20, 1999, former Chinese Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin, in spite of much opposition from within the Chinese regime, officially banned the practice of Falun Gong and initiated a brutal campaign of brainwashing, torture and murder, which continues today; and
WHEREAS, the number of verified deaths from torture has reached 913 as of February 9, 2004; and
WHEREAS, there has been daily slander and defamation from the Chinese state media, which enjoys a monopoly on newspapers, television, radio and Web sites; and
WHEREAS, Chinese delegates in the United States are pressuring local elected officials to refuse or withdraw support of Falun Gong; and
WHEREAS, the Jiang Zemin Regime has additionally been using illicit means to harass, intimidate and physically assault Falun Gong practitioners in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Charles Lee, a United States citizen and Falun Gong practitioner, has reportedly been mentally and physically tortured since being detained by Chinese authorities on January 22, 2003:
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that we therefore condemn the persecution of Falun Gong in Mainland China and abroad, and hereby resolve that it is the sense of the Associated Students of the University of California at Berkeley that:
(1) Our local congressional representative, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, should co-sign Resolution 304 by contacting Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey's office;
(2) Copies of this Resolution should be sent to local elected officials at the city, county, state, and federal levels, including --
(A) U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer;
(B) U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell;
(C) U.S. Ambassador to China Clark T. Randt; and
(D) President George W. Bush;
(3) Copies of this Resolution should also be sent to the student governments of colleges and universities in California, in understanding that it is a relevant issue to all California students, with an accompanying recommendation that this Resolution also be adopted as to form a joint action.
Deaths of 25 Falun Gong Practitioners Verified in March
The deaths of 25 more Falun Gong practitioners in China as a result of state-run persecution were verified in March, according to reliable sources. Among them are details of recent deaths, as well as information about deaths that had been covered up for over four years.
Twenty-year-old Mr. Chang Baoli was arrested while appealing in Beijing in November 1999. He was then transferred to Gongyi City where police beat him to death the next day.
The delay in verifying Mr. Chang's death reveals the difficulty in getting such information out of the country. For every verified death, an additional five to ten such cases are believed to remain unreported.
The Falun Dafa Information Center receives dozens of reports of practitioners being tortured for every report of a practitioner killed.
One of those killed in March was Daqing City-resident Mr. Li Yuanguang, 34. He died weighing less than one hundred pounds after prolonged torture, leaving behind his wife and a family bankrupted by police extortions.
Mr. Li nearly dropped out of college due to severe kidney problems. After he started practicing Falun Gong his health greatly improved and he continued his studies, earning a master's degree. Before Falun Gong was banned, Mr. Li received government recognition for contributing to his hometown.
After traveling to Beijing's Office of Appeals in 1999 Mr. Li was repeatedly harassed by police. Police abducted him from his home on April 24, 2001 and sent him to the Sha District Detention Center. There, officers forced him to sit on a metal chair, thumped his eyes, placed lit cigarettes in his mouth, force-fed him drugs, inserted mustard into his nose, stomped on his body and fingers, and subjected him to other abuses.
To protest the inhumane treatment, Mr. Li went on hunger strike. He was then repeatedly force-fed -- a violent procedure that has been the direct cause of death in 10% of all verified killings of Falun Gong practitioners.
In a terrible condition, Mr. Li was released from detention only to pass away at home.
"The frequency and consistency of the torture and murder cases throughout China underscores the fact that this is a premeditated campaign directed by high ranking officials," says Falun Dafa Information Center spokesman Mr. Erping Zhang, "not simply the crimes of a few overzealous prison guards."
The March reports indicate that many of the guards received bonuses for torturing practitioners. Criminal inmates also tortured practitioners in order to gain an early release.
Torture methods include dousing practitioners with cold water, leaving them outdoors in freezing temperatures, shocking them with electric batons, depriving them of sleep, starving them, and tying them in agonizing positions.
Practitioners also die after being forced to become homeless, as in the case of Ms. Fang Yuqin, 78. Police harassment forced Ms. Fang and her family out into the street and into destitution. She died several months after her daughter and granddaughter were both sent to the notorious Masanjia Labor Camp.
China: Ms. Zou Wenyu Goes Blind after being Injected with Unknown Drugs at the Baimalong Forced Labor Camp
Ms. Zou Wenyu, 51 years old, is disabled after being injected drug at a forced labor camp in China.
Ms Zou was a teacher for 27 years before she was jailed for practicing Falun Gong. She had suffered from poor health since childhood, resulting in overall frailty. However, Her health improved greatly and her spirits soared after practicing Falun Gong.
On July 20, 1999, Jiang began to openly persecute Falun Gong. In February 2000, Mr. Zou Wenyu went to Beijing to appeal. As a result, Ms. Zou was illegally detained for 50 days and fined 10,800 yuan [Chinese currency: the monthly salary for an average Chinese urban worker is about 500 yuan.]. Then Ms. Zou lost her job and thus her livelihood.
In October 2000, she was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor. The staff at the Baimalong Forced Labor Camp in Zhuzhou City, Human Province, injected her with unknown drugs. As a result she became blind in both eyes and she also became hearing-impaired.
The labor camp did not notify Ms. Zou's husband to come and get her until April 2002, and even then authorities only did so because they refused to take the responsibilities as her condition had worsened and her health had deteriorated drastically.
China: Accused of Broadcasting Documentary Programs on TV in Hebei Province, Mr. Cheng Fengxiang Has Bamboo Slivers Jammed Under His Fingernails
Because of his alleged participation in broadcasting documentary programs about the persecution of Falun Gong on TV in the Shahe and Xingtai areas, Mr. Cheng Fengxiang from Yongnian County, Hebei Province, was arrested by local police on January 28, 2004. In order to obtain a reward for finding out the whereabouts of the equipment used for the TV broadcasts, the police captain tortured Cheng Fengxiang by jamming bamboo slivers under his fingernails. The scene of the torture shocked others that were watching.
During the Chinese New Year of 2004, Falun Gong practitioners successfully broadcast the TV documentaries "False Fire," "Jiang Zemin is Being Sued Globally," and "Falun Dafa Spread Around the World" in the Xingtai and Shahe areas of Hebei Province for 75 minutes: The broadcast was intended to let people to know the facts of the persecution of Falun Dafa. Afterwards, the Hebei Provincial Committee ordered the City of Xingtai to finish the investigation in a fixed time or the mayor would be fired on the spot. The Hebei Provincial Police Department arrested several Falun Gong practitioners, while several other practitioners were forced to leave their homes to avoid arrest.
Mr. Cheng Fengxiang is being held in a detention center. According to one source he has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
On January 28, the police also arrested his wife and sealed Mr. Cheng's home to prevent his two sons from staying there. Mr. Cheng's father and his younger brother (neither are Falun Gong practitioners) were also arrested on the same night. Both of them are still being held at the county detention center.
China: Five Persons Receive Heavy Sentences for Exposing Police's Sexual Abuse against Female Falun Gong Practitioner
Since June 2003, when Falun Gong practitioners in Chongqing City exposed the insident of Ms. Wei Xingyan (1), the local authorities have been acting outside the law and have furiously retaliated against practitioners. Several truth-clarification materials production sites were raided, and a dozen or so practitioners were arrested. In February 2004, five of those arrested were illegally put on trial and sentenced to severe prison terms.
The practitioners and their current situations are as follows:
Chen Shumin, male, General Manager of Juxian Technology Development Company; sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Lu Zhengqi, male, Vice General Manager of Juxian Technology Development Company; sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Yan Qiuyan, female; sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Li Jian, male, 41, from Dazu County, graduated from Huaxi Medical University; sentenced to 13 years in prison. In 1999 he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa and was sentenced to forced labor reeducation. After he was abducted this time, he was first sent to a labor camp where suffered brutal torture, including sleep deprivation for eight days straight. Later, Mr. Li was transferred to a detention center.
Yin Yan, female; sentenced to 5 years in prison. Her father is a lawyer. In 1999 when Jiang's regime put Gu Zhiyi, a Falun Gong volunteer contact person from Chongqing City, on trial, her father was the defense attorney for Gu Zhiyi.
Other practitioners arrested include Ms. Liu Fanqin, He Mingli and Ms. Tang Guorong. Some of these practitioners were sent to forced labor camps and some still remain in detention centers.
We call upon all people with a sense of justice to help stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
(1) Ms. Wei Xingyan is a twenty-eight-year-old graduate student majoring in the High Voltage Continuous Current Transmission and Simulation Technology at Chongqing University. On May 11, 2003, because of practicing Falun Gong she was arrested by the "610 Office" in the Shapingba District of Chongqing City. On the night of May 13, 2003, at the Baihelin Detention Center, a policeman raped her right in front of two female inmates. Ms. Wei went on a hunger strike to protest afterwards. Her whereabouts remain unknown at present. After the incident was exposed, the "610 Office" has blocked Ms. Wei's student documents at Chongqing University and ordered the university to announce to the outside that, "there is no such student named Wei Xingyan, and there is no such major called High Voltage Continuous Current Transmission and Simulation Technology."
Since June 2003, when Falun Gong practitioners in Chongqing City exposed the insident of Ms. Wei Xingyan (*), the local authorities have been acting outside the law and have furiously retaliated against practitioners. Several truth-clarification materials production sites were raided, and a dozen or so practitioners were arrested. In February 2004, five of those arrested were illegally put on trial and sentenced to severe prison terms.
The practitioners and their current situations are as follows:
Chen Shumin, male, General Manager of Juxian Technology Development Company; sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Lu Zhengqi, male, Vice General Manager of Juxian Technology Development Company; sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Yan Qiuyan, female; sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Li Jian, male, 41, from Dazu County, graduated from Huaxi Medical University; sentenced to 13 years in prison. In 1999 he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa and was sentenced to forced labor reeducation. After he was abducted this time, he was first sent to a labor camp where suffered brutal torture, including sleep deprivation for eight days straight. Later, Mr. Li was transferred to a detention center.
Yin Yan, female; sentenced to 5 years in prison. Her father is a lawyer. In 1999 when Jiang's regime put Gu Zhiyi, a Falun Gong volunteer contact person from Chongqing City, on trial, her father was the defense attorney for Gu Zhiyi.
Other practitioners arrested include Ms. Liu Fanqin, He Mingli and Ms. Tang Guorong. Some of these practitioners were sent to forced labor camps and some still remain in detention centers.
We call upon all people with a sense of justice to help stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
(*) Ms. Wei Xingyan is a twenty-eight-year-old graduate student majoring in the High Voltage Continuous Current Transmission and Simulation Technology at Chongqing University. On May 11, 2003, because of practicing Falun Gong she was arrested by the "610 Office" in the Shapingba District of Chongqing City. On the night of May 13, 2003, at the Baihelin Detention Center, a policeman raped her right in front of two female inmates. Ms. Wei went on a hunger strike to protest afterwards. Her whereabouts remain unknown at present. After the incident was exposed, the "610 Office" has blocked Ms. Wei's student documents at Chongqing University and ordered the university to announce to the outside that, "there is no such student named Wei Xingyan, and there is no such major called High Voltage Continuous Current Transmission and Simulation Technology."
Reuters: Falun Gong Sues Chinese Minister in U.S. Court
Fri Apr 23, 2004
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Falun Gong members have sued Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai in U.S. federal court for acts of genocide and torture which they said he carried out against them while a provincial governor, according to court documents made available on Friday.
Bo, in Washington this week as part of a delegation headed by Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi, was served with the legal papers on Thursday as he entered a hotel for a dinner in Wu's honor, said attorney Morton Sklar of the World Organization Against Torture USA, who represents the plaintiffs.
A State Department spokesman said he was aware a civil suit had been filed but it was unclear if the papers, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., had been properly served.
The Chinese Embassy did not respond to a request for comment.
Before becoming commerce minister in February, Bo for three years was governor of Liao Ning province, home to the Masanjia forced labor camp and three mental hospitals. The provincial government is considered one of the worst abusers of Falun Gong practitioners, Sklar told Reuters.
Court papers said Bo "played a major role in seeking to suppress the Falun Gong spiritual movement."
Bo "planned and carried out a sustained and deliberate set of policies and actions that resulted in the arbitrary and unlawful arrest, detention, persecution and in some cases execution of the plaintiffs," the papers said.
Under international law, genocide is defined as intentional acts "to destroy in whole or part a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."
The suit said Bo's activities met this definition because "they consisted of an intentionally inflicted policy and practice, carried out under color of law, of inflicting serious bodily harm, and in a number of cases death while in detention, against members of a spiritual group."
Sklar said the suit was the fourth brought in the United States against Chinese officials for human rights abuses against Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that the communist government in Beijing considers a threat.
The State Department, in its latest human rights report, said China's government in 2003 continued its crackdown on Falun Gong and thousands of its practitioners remained imprisoned in jails, labor camps and psychiatric facilities.
Radio Free Asia New Book "Wild Grass" Released in the USA--a Story of Grassroots Movements in China
According to Radio Free Asia reporter Zijin, Ian Johnson, a Wall Street Journal reporter in the USA who won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Falun Gong practitioner Chen Zixiu's brutal beating death, recently published a new book named "Wild Grass
The book tells the story of how three ordinary Chinese citizens stepped forward at the grassroots level to defend their basic human rights. On March 29, the New York Asia Society, the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and the Overseas Press Club cosponsored an evening program and book signing reception for Ian Johnson.
The author's book examines the cases of three Chinese citizens, including one from coastal China, one from Beijing, and another from Northwest China. It reflects the real situation of modern grassroots movements in different areas. The book's title, "Wild Grass" acknowledges these individuals' will to survive and thrive with little care or support.
One of the stories tells of a self-educated lawyer who helps peasants file a lawsuit against illegal taxation, and ends up being imprisoned. Although the peasants lost the lawsuit, government officials no longer dared to abuse and take advantage of them as boldly as before. Although Johnson demonstrates many shortcomings of the legal system, he also showed measured optimism, indicating that many people have now begun using legal means to expose corruption in the government. The second story is about a Qinghua University architect who tries to save Beijing's dwindling heritage from the bulldozer. The third story covers Falun Gong practitioner Chen Zixiu's daughter's appeals for her mother's unjustified death, and how she was subsequently sentenced to three years of forced labor.
Swiss Newspaper Tribune de Genève: Victims Testify of
Economic Slavery in Chinese Labor Camps
--Is the Aggressiveness of Chinese Exports Based on the
Exploitation and Torture of Prisoners?
[note: translated from French]
Would the world's factories employ millions of slaves? "In China, a thousand grim-looking forced labor camps produce, at unbeatable prices, goods that flood our markets: wigs, jewels, toys, balls, clothes. The Chinese economy, on the way to world domination, threatens our businesses and our jobs. It is based on unacceptable working conditions, massive violations of human rights and of ILO conventions. It is shameless dumping", says the action group for true democracy in China, which has just been created in Geneva.
This action group was initiated by Régis de Battista, Director of Geneva's "Maisons des Associations" and President of the Committee of Support to the Tibetan People. He brings together NGOs, human rights groups and representatives of the persecuted spiritual movement Falun Gong. His objective is also to increase awareness on the part of the authorities and Swiss businesses of the dangers of "Chinese control over the global economy" that does not bother with a code of ethics.
Relaunching Two Motions
De Battista hopes to relaunch two motions that he proposed while he was still a Socialist Member of Parliament in Geneva's Great Council. These projects ask particularly that the State Council study the consequences to the canton of "Chinese dumping", and that it not buy goods from this country for as long as China does not respect international norms in its conditions of production. "But to tackle the Chinese question is difficult because one is up against big interests", he says.
Several victims of this economic slavery have come to testify at Geneva. Zhang Cuiying, a famous painter of Australian nationality, spent eight months in a labor camp at Shenzen for practicing Falun Gong: "From 7am to 11pm I had to make electric candles that were then sold to Hong Kong. I was frequently beaten, shocked with electric batons, sexually abused by the prison guards, and locked in with criminals and the mentally ill. Millions of people undergo a similar fate in China."
Chen Ying, a student in France, was arrested for the same reason while visiting her family in Beijing. At the camp, she was making cuddly toy rabbits (for the subcontractor Beijing Mickey Toys), destined to promote Nestlé products. "Hygiene conditions were terrible; we slept, ate, worked and went to the toilet in the same place. And it is there also that baguettes are made for the restaurants." She was subjected to sleep deprivation and brainwashing. She was injected with a drug from which the left side of her body is still half paralyzed.
A Million Forced Labor Workers
More than 1,000 labor camps, inspired by the methods of the Soviet gulags and Nazi camps, would "employ" 6.8 million in detention (of whom 100,000 are Falun Gong practitioners and hundreds of thousands of other prisoners of conscience). "Impossible to know to what extent they contribute to the Chinese economic boom ... but the system is clearly conceived to provide a vast workforce free of charge" says Jang Jei Jaw, a businessman from the United States. He chairs the NGO World Organization for the Investigation of the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), a persecution responsible for at least 10,000 deaths according to Mark Palmer, former United States Ambassador in Beijing.
As the import of products from forced labor camps is prohibited in the United States, twenty loads from China have actually been seized, Jang added. According to him, the whole of the Chinese hair industry rests on prisoners' labor. The Henan Rebecca factory alone (which sells wigs at $100 each in the West) has a turnover of $60 million; the same for the sweater and cashmere pullover industry. United States trade unions are preparing a global denunciation of this "unfair competition."
AFP: China steps up Internet control with video surveillance in public places
Thursday April 22,
China has stepped control of the Internet in its largest city Shanghai with the installation of video surveillance equipment and software in public places.
The directive from the Shanghai Culture, Radio, Film and TV Administration was designed to prevent the surfing of banned websites and to stop people under 16 from entering Internet bars, the Shanghai Daily said.
Authorities have already installed video cameras in every Internet cafe in the city so officials can keep track of youngsters' movements, the newspaper said.
The yet-to-be installed software will force users to input personal identification data to log on, while a supervisory center will monitor surfing and check whether a cafe was illegally operating at night, it said.
Foreigners will have to input their passport number.
"The software, which cost seven million yuan (850,000 dollars) to develop, can help supervise more than 110,000 computers at the city's 1,325 Internet bars and spot illegal activities immediately," the paper quoted project director Yu Wenchang as saying.
The measures are part of a six-month campaign by municipal authorities, which began this month, to crackdown on Internet bars.
Fifty-seven net bars have been punished or shut down in the city so far.
There are roughly 70 million Internet users in China, putting the world's most populous nation second behind the United States in terms of people online.
The Internet explosion is both a blessing and a curse for the Chinese authorities, who want people to be more tech-savvy without absorbing too many foreign ideas or spreading anti-government messages.
Internet users are frequently jailed for posting articles critical of the government.
Falun Gong Practitioners' Personal Experience
Ovarian Cancer Disappears After Practicing Falun Gong for Two Weeks
By a New York practitioner
My cousin, Liu Xin, is a lecturer at a university in Jinan. She is my aunt's only daughter. When Falun Dafa first began to spread in China, my parents introduced the practice to her and her parents. Maybe because of a karmic relationship, she and her parents didn't choose to cultivate.
When China started to persecute Falun Gong on a large scale, my parents were sentenced to three years in a labor camp. All of our family members were subjected to "guilt by association," so many didn't dare to approach us, but Liu Xin and her family still went to visit my parents.
On March 2002, Liu Xin complained that her abdomen felt very painful. The doctor diagnosed middle to late stage ovarian cancer. My cousin was only 25, beautiful and talented, when the doctor told my aunt that her daughter probably had only two years left to live. Surgery removed a big part of the 20 cm tumor and half of an ovary. Six months later the tumor had grown so large that a second surgery was scheduled. The whole family was depressed.
Fifteen days after they began practicing Falun Gong, my cousin had her second surgery. When her abdomen was opened, the doctor made a miraculous discovery: the tumor was not embedded in the ovary and was very easily removed. A biopsy showed no cancer cells at all, and Liu Xin was fine. The confused doctor and nurses re-examined the tissue samples from Liu Xin's previous surgery to verify that it was cancer. After one week of testing, everything is still fine.
A late stage ovarian cancer was healed fifteen days after starting to practice Falun Gong: everybody is saying it is a miracle.
Lymphoma Patient Completely Recovers after Practicing Falun Gong
I am live in Hubei Province, China. On December 10, 2002, I was diagnosed with lymphoma, an incurable cancer of the lymphatic system. At that time I felt it was the end of the world for me. My husband took me to almost all the big hospitals in the province for CT scans and every possible examination. I hoped so much that the diagnosis had been wrong, but every test result cruelly broke my heart. The physical pain was an unrelenting torture. I could barely eat a thing. Only with pain medication and sleeping pills could I get any rest. During the night, I could not sleep because of the pain. It is hard to image that kind of pain. I used to be a little bit heavy, but within just a few days my weight dropped to less than a hundred pounds. Those few days seemed like a century.
When I had lost almost all hope, my family members introduced me to the practice of Falun Gong. Since I had been influenced by the propaganda and negative coverage from the Chinese state-run media, I had originally returned the book Zhuan Falun to them several times without touching it. This time, thinking that I would give it a try, I started practicing and studying the principles of Falun Gong with them. In the beginning, I almost gave up due to the great pain I was suffering. With their full support I was able to continue practicing. Many thanks to Teacher! In just one short week the physical pain lessened. I didn't need the pain medication and sleeping pills, which I had relied on so heavily. Two weeks later, I started eating and gradually became more energetic. My physical pain actually disappeared completely! When my friends and relatives came to visit, they felt that I was just like a normal, healthy person. Seeing the great change in me, everybody felt happy for me and they all realized the power of Falun Gong. Some of them also started practicing Falun Gong.
It is Master Li who gave me a second chance at life. Everyone, please don't believe those negative reports from the Chinese state-run media and don't be blinded by those lies. Please pay attention to what is happening around you. You will discover that Falun Gong is the righteous way and truly good.
The People Awaken to the Truth
Villagers Stop the Police from Arresting a Falun Gong Practitioner
At approximately 8 o'clock on an evening in February 2004, seven police officers from Shandong Province came in two police vehicles to arrest Falun Gong practitioners who lived in a village within their jurisdiction. They abducted a male practitioner first, and then attempted to arrest a female practitioner. The husband of this female practitioner was not home at that time, so she locked the door. Without knocking on the door, the police pried open the door and broke into her home. They dragged her out, and some of the police even kicked her from behind.
As she was being dragged out, this female practitioner shouted, "Help! Criminals are attacking me!" Upon hearing her cry for help, her fellow villagers rushed out with sticks and hoes to see what was going on. They surrounded the police. The police hurriedly explained, "We are from the police station." The villagers replied, "It doesn't matter even if you are from the police station. Her husband is not home. Why do you want to arrest her?" The police showed their IDs and said, "We have IDs. We're in charge of Falun Gong." The villagers did not budge and said, "We don't care."
The police wanted to push away the villagers, but the villagers said, "If you come forward, we'll beat you with sticks. You said you're in charge of Falun Gong. Show us evidence [to justify your attempt to arrest her]."
The police took out some Falun Gong truth-clarification materials and said, "This is the evidence [note: they wanted to show that the female practitioner posted truth-clarification materials]." The villagers said, "That's fabrication." Seeing the villagers stare at them with anger, the police had to leave. Some villagers noticed that their vehicles did not even have a license plate.
Early the next morning, the police came again; however, the female practitioner was not home. The police found an old paint barrel from her home, and put it in front of her door, attempting to fabricate evidence that she painted truth-clarification signs.
According to the villagers, the town government had once held a meeting for all village party secretaries. They also intended to hold a brainwashing class later on, but the party secretaries all refused to cooperate. It is obvious that the people are awakening and coming to know the truth.
China: A Police Officer Quits His Job at "610 Office"
I recently got to know a man who used to be a police officer working for the "610 Office"
His mother used to suffer from various illnesses and only weighed about 80 pounds. However, after she took up the practice of Falun Gong, she recovered and also gained some weight. Therefore, he knew clearly Falun Gong was good from his mother's experience.
After the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999, he was dispatched to the "610 Office" to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Following his conscience, he tried his best to protect practitioners. Once, he and another policeman were supposed to ransack a practitioner's home. When he walked up to the water tank in the practitioner's home, he put his hands in the water and then he touched a bag of stuff wrapped with plastic bags. He knew that the bag contained Falun Gong books. So he pretended he did not find anything in the water tank. At that time another policeman came up and said, "How about we discharge the water and see what's in the tank?" He replied immediately, "Don't you know how much it costs to purchase one ton of water? Let's not do it." Thus he managed to protect the practitioner and his Falun Gong books. This practitioner was very grateful for the officer's righteous behavior.
Another time he learned that the police planned to ransack the home of one of his relatives who practiced Falun Gong. So he took his wife (she did not practice Falun Gong, but also knew Falun Gong was good) and went to the relative's home before the police arrived. He hid his relative's Falun Gong books around his waist. This was during the summer. Wearing a short-sleeved shirt, he looked very bulky. Right after he walked out of his relative's home, he was followed by a plainclothes police officer. But he went around and managed to lose him.
Now, he has quit his job as a policeman because he knows that persecuting Falun Gong practitioners is the same as committing a crime.
Category: Bi-monthly newsletter
