La Tribune de Genève ? 25 July 2004
Geneva, 19 July - 20 July marked a terrible anniversary. The persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China has been raging now for five years and without giving rise to any particular media interest worldwide, despite the more than alarming numbers involved. According to unofficial sources, we estimate, to date, between 4,000 and 10,000 deaths. As for torture, the Swiss Falun Gong practitioners chose to act out these scenes on the street in Bern. Indeed, it seems that, today, pictures carry more force than words, as we have seen with the photos of Abu Ghraïb recently. (...)
Despite the numerous appeals launched by many NGOs, such as Amnesty International. OMCT [World Organization against Torture] and ACAT [Christian Action against Torture] or Human Rights Watch and numerous interventions by famous political figures, as well as different resolutions adopted by the European Parliament to condemn this persecution, China continues to turn a deaf ear, claiming to whomsoever will listen that human rights are fine in China and that torture does not exist there. And yet, The United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture, Théo van Boven, has just had his official visit postponed. The Chinese Government would have liked - or so they said - to better prepare for his visit. What this said to Nicolas Becquelin, representative of the NGO Human Rights in China, was that it leads one to suppose China had something to hide.
Today, the repression continues to assume disturbing proportions, since it is spreading outside China. Volunteer practitioners who are denouncing the persecution in various countries and filing criminal lawsuits against the Chinese perpetrators for genocide, crimes against humanity and torture, are now finding themselves under threat. Several days ago, Australian practitioners having gone to South Africa to register a complaint against two [visiting] Chinese officials were fired upon from a car pursuing them. The driver, Australian practitioner David Liang, was seriously wounded in both feet and an inquiry is under way to establish responsibility for such an act.
In view of the unacceptable rise in violence extending now outside China and aimed directly at practitioners worldwide, will our countries finally react with a greater degree of firmness and prevent such acts from being committed on our soil? Should not our countries unite to condemn these massive violations through making China understand that in our democratic countries we respect the freedoms of expression and belief.
May Bakhtiar
