14 Jul 2006

London: British-based followers of the spiritual movement Falun Gong are to take a petition to Whitehall on Saturday calling for an end to the alleged harvesting of organs from prisoners of conscience in China.

The Falun Gong Association UK will also lead supporters in a march from Portland Place to Chinatown to mark the day - July 20 1999 - when the former Chinese Communist Party head, Jiang Zemin, banned the Falun Gong movement.

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The petition contains details of the alleged removal of organs for transplant from living Falun Gong prisoners.

According to the Association hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong followers are imprisoned in China, with around 100,000 carrying out sentences in forced labour camps, typically without trial.

The human rights organisation, Amnesty International, believes many detainees have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment.

Figures from the Falun Dafa Information Centre show around 2,898 practitioners have been killed since 1999.

However, the centre said in 2003 Chinese government officials reported the actual death toll was five times higher than the confirmed number of dead.

Tens of millions of Chinese are thought to practise Falun Gong, which involves gentle exercise and meditation aimed at improving the health of body, mind and spirit.

However, the Association said many are fearful of disclosing they belong to the movement because they risk losing their jobs, being denied an education and social support, and at worst being imprisoned, tortured or killed.

Before the march on Saturday the chair of the Falun Gong Association UK, the vice chair of the European Friends of Falun Gong will speak about the maltreatment of practitioners and high-profile supporters of the cause are also expected to make statements.

Source http://www.communitynewswire.press.net/article.jsp?id=502939