(Clearwisdom.net) On December 10, 2009, International Human Rights Day, Ms. Lisa Tao, a Falun Gong practitioner in Washington DC, was invited to give a speech for an International Human Rights Day Press Conference at the National Press Club (NPC). She exposed the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) 10-year persecution of Falun Gong.
Ms. Tao said, "This is my first time to speak about Falun Gong in such a formal occasions as the NPC press conference."
|
On December 10, 2009, International Human Rights Day, Ms. Lisa Tao, a Falun Gong practitioner in Washington DC, was invited to give a speech for International Human Rights Day at the National Press Club, where she exposed the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong. |
Responsible for Equality and Liberty (REAL) sponsored the press conference. Founder Jeffrey Imm of REALfirst met Ms. Tao at the end of September in front of the Chinese Embassy when Ms. Tao and other Falun Gong practitioners were there protesting the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong. Mr. Imm was moved by Ms. Tao's heroic actions. He said that practitioners hold a peaceful protest there every day without microphone or camcorder. Many people never see them and do not know they are there. They speak out for those who cannot seek justice in China.
|
REAL founder Jeffrey Imm |
Mr. Imm invited Ms. Tao to the National Press Club on International Human Rights Day to narrate the story of Falun Gong to the media. A simultaneous interpreter translated her speech into English.
Ms. Tao said, "It has been more than ten years since the CCP initiated the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999. Hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been unlawfully detained. Countless practitioners were tortured and many were tortured to death. The CCP thugs have used nearly one hundred types of torture, including beating, electric shock, burning, freezing, the tiger bench, piercing the fingernails with with sharp bamboo sticks, dungeons, dog bites, snake bites, injecting nerve-damaging drugs, and so on. The number of documented deaths due to torture is more than three thousands practitioners."
Ms. Tao said, "Among the practitioners in DC, several dozen experienced the persecution or their relatives experienced the persecution."
Two older Falun Gong practitioners, Ms. Nianying Zhang and Ms. Qiurong Wang, sat in the last row with solemn expressions during the press conference. Ms. Zhang is in her 80s. Her sister-in-law was sent to labor camps twice and was later tortured to death for practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Wang was unlawfully imprisoned for one year for speaking out for Falun Gong on Tiananmen Square. The police shocked her with electric batons and tortured her by forcing her to stand under the blazing sun without clothes. She was forced to stand from 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. for nine days.
|
Two older Falun Gong practitioners, Ms. Nianying Zhang and Ms. Qiurong Wang, attended the press conference |
Ms. Tao said in tears, "To rescue fellow Falun Gong practitioners, we visited the White House, Congress, and other government departments to seek their help. Kind-hearted people, please offer your help to stop the persecution and rescue our fellow practitioners."
Ms. Tao also called on those at the press conference to pay attention to the Spanish Court's indictment of five high-ranking Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, including former Communist Party head Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan, Bo Xilai, Jia Qinglin, and Wu Guanzheng, on charges of genocide and torture of Falun Gong practitioners.
