U.S. Newswire (Press Release), Washington, DC: Phone Harassment Campaign Targets Falun Gong; Practitioners in Over 20 Countries Bombarded with Phone Messages

2/10/2005

To: National Desk

Contact: Tao Wang, 202-422-8133

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference at the National Press Club yesterday to disclose a coordinated phone harassment campaign targeting Falun Gong practitioners worldwide.

Since Sunday, February 6, 2005, Falun Gong practitioners in over 20 countries spanning North America, Europe, and Asia, including Canada, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Australia, have received repeated calls with pre- recorded messages at their home, work, and cell phones from unknown source.

According to Jeff Chen, spokesperson for the Washington DC Falun Dafa Association, at least several hundred people total have received such calls, including 27 in the Washington DC Metropolitan area. Some people have received over 20 phone calls and at regular intervals.

Because the content of the messages is virulent, anti-Falun Gong, Communist propaganda, it strongly suggests that the phone campaign assault is being orchestrated by the Chinese Communist regime.

The calls were in both Chinese and English and primarily consisted of recorded messages citing China's state-run media attacks against the Falun Gong spiritual practice.

Also frightening to Chen was the fact that the caller had a list of phone numbers for Falun Gong practitioners all over the world, including private or internal office phone numbers.

"One can't help asking who has the capability of collecting such accurate intelligence -- some individuals, a group, or a powerful state machine?" said Chen. "What message are they trying to send to Falun Gong practitioners and their supporters? Aren't they trying to tell us -- no matter where you go and what you do, we know everything about you?"

Amongst the victims of this campaign are a number of individuals who are plaintiffs in a civil rights and RICO (Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization) lawsuit filed in April 2002 against China Ministry of State Security, China Ministry of Public Security, China Central Television, Chinese Embassy, and Consulate officials and thugs for criminal acts committed in the United States.

The lawsuit claims that these groups have engaged in a criminal conspiracy in the United States threatening Falun Gong practitioners by setting fire to their cars, monitoring their phones and homes, hiring thugs to physically assault them, and by committing other offenses including death threats.

Dr. Sen Nieh, Ph.D., Professor of Engineering at Catholic University of America and a plaintiff in the RICO lawsuit, received over 17 phone calls on his home phone within a span of 3 hours on Monday afternoon. He also received multiple phone calls on his cell phone, his direct line at work, and his department line, which was attended by the Department's secretary. Dr. Nieh was the former chairman of the department.

"Massive callings like this incite fear and frustration," said Dr. Nieh, "it forces us to live in the shadow of terror."

Lin Chuan, a resident of Arlington, Virginia, received over 15 phone calls on his cell phone registered under his wife's name. Lin's wife, Shi Wei, is also a plaintiff in the RICO lawsuit.

Since the Chinese government banned Falun Gong in 1999, it initiated a massive campaign to eliminate the practice both in China and United States, torturing over 1,000 practitioners to death and incarcerating tens of thousands more. China's state- run media also joined in the campaign by commencing an all-out propaganda attack on the group. Many of the recorded messages directly cite these media attacks.

Martin McMahon, the lead counsel representing Falun Gong practitioners in the RICO lawsuit, claimed that the Chinese government has the resources to target and monitor a large group of people, as evidenced by their largely successful efforts to censor the Chinese Internet.

He said that in April 2002, when a Wall Street Journal reporter from Beijing interviewed him, he asked whether the reporter knew anything about one of the allegations in the RICO lawsuit, an international registry of Falun Gong practitioners. The reporter replied, "Of course, everyone knows, it's the Golden Shield," referring to one of China's well-known systems for monitoring its citizens.

McMahon believes this recent harassment campaign gives more credibility to the RICO lawsuit, and is a "stupid" action taken by the Chinese Communist government.

The lead counsel also expressed his concern that his clients were receiving these harassment calls. "Whenever a person files a federal lawsuit, he or she should not be intimidated."

On behalf of his clients, McMahon will urge the U.S. Attorney General and various U.S. Attorney Offices to investigate this matter as was stated as the sense of Congress in the House Concurrent Resolution 304 passed in October 2004.

For the latest developments, please visit http://faluninfo.net.

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