Falun Gong is freely
practiced in more than 50 countries around the world, but relentlessly
persecuted in China. The peaceful courage of practitioners there has shocked
their oppressors and moved the people of the world. While China continues to
block all information, FGMTV brings you the stories you may not hear anywhere
else.
Hello, and welcome to FGMTV
on December 24th, 2001.
I’m Susan Mitchell.
Our top story this week:
Fulfilling the prediction
reported last week on FGMtv, the Chinese government begins a new propaganda
campaign against Falun Gong. CCTV, China's state television, broadcast gruesome
video footage of a murdered family and falsely claimed it to have been a crime
committed by a Falun Gong practitioner, despite the fact that the teachings of
Falun Gong strictly prohibit suicide and killing.
And some of our other
stories:
·
Five of the 36 Western
practitioners of Falun Gong who went to Tiananmen Square on November 20th
hold a press conference in Hong Kong
·
Hong Kong’s leading
English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post reports on the
multi-million dollar law suit against the Sing Tao Group of newspapers by Falun
Gong practitioners in Canada
·
South Africa – teaching
the exercises. showing videotapes and telling the truth of the persecution to
Chinese people in Johannesburg
·
Practitioners join in a
Christmas Parade in Napier, New Zealand
·
Judgment
against a high-ranking Chinese Official was handed down by a U.S. Court on
December 23rd
In this week's update
from China:
·
Two more Falun Gong
women reported tortured to death by eyewitnesses
·
Voice of America reports
the beating to death of Ms. Zhang Min just seven days after her arrest November
28th for distributing literature explaining the truth of the
persecution
·
short stories of those
in China who didn’t believe that good will be rewarded and evil will be
punished
·
the Chinese wife of a
Taiwanese citizen is in extreme danger in a forced labor camp in Jilin
province.
·
and finally… New York
State issues a citation honoring the founder of Falun Dafa
Associated Press reported on
Friday, December 21st that five of the Western practitioners of
Falun Gong who had gone to Beijing's Tiananmen Square on November 20th
held a news conference in Hong Kong. They told media that, contrary to Chinese
news reports saying they were treated with 'humanity and fairness', in
actuality, they had been beaten, bloodied and bruised by mainland police.
"When I was sitting in
meditation, I was lifted by my hair and pulled by my arms,'' said Lilian Staf,
a 25-year old Swede who works in London, England.
Ms. Staf said police had
dragged her into a minivan, holding her so tightly it felt like her skin was
being penetrated and leaving her in pain, (quote) ''so intense it made my whole
body numb.''
Zenon Dolnyckij was one of
the five foreigners in Hong Kong on Friday. Zenon's photo was featured on major
Web sites and on the front pages of major newspapers around the world as
Chinese police pulled him off his feet in Tiananmen Square. He is shown here
being interviewed by FGMtv and Radio Free Asia on his return from Beijing.
The 35 demonstrators in
Beijing included people from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland,
Israel, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, England and the USA.
The Chinese government has
told its citizens that Falun Gong is persecuted all over the world. The group
of 35 said they wanted Chinese citizens to see that the group practices freely
in more than 50 countries.
After practicing their
slow-motion meditative exercises in a Hong Kong park early Friday, the five
foreigners and local practitioners delivered a letter to the Hong Kong
government.
The South
China Morning Post, Hong Kong's leading English-language newspaper, reported on
Saturday, December 22nd that Falun Gong members have filed a multi-million dollar defamation lawsuit
in a Canadian court against a Hong Kong newspaper group for carrying an article
that likened its members to September 11 terrorists. The article appeared in
Hong Kong and overseas editions of Sing Tao Daily.
The suit, filed in Toronto on Wednesday by Falun Gong lawyer Rocco Galati, is
against Sing Tao's Canadian operation, jointly owned by the Hong Kong Sing Tao
group and the Toronto Star newspaper group. Sing Tao publishes editions in
major Canadian cities. Mr. Galati is representing 156 Falun Gong members –
including the three Hong Kong residents whose photos appeared in the article.
Public court documents show the claimants are demanding more than C$13 million,
or C$85,000 each, in damages. The plaintiffs are also demanding a front-page
apology and a court order banning Sing Tao from publishing defamatory articles
against Falun Gong.
Mr. Galati said he would seek to turn the lawsuit against Sing Tao into a class
action that could involve thousands of claimants.
When
contacted by the South China Morning Post, Sing Tao declined comment.
On December 15 and 16, 2001,
Falun Dafa practitioners from Sweden, South Africa, and Lesotho gathered
together in Chinatown in Johannesburg. They set up a Photo Exhibition, played
videos and answered questions to clarify the truth of Falun Gong and
distributed flyers and newspapers to local Chinese citizens. They also
demonstrated the five Falun Gong exercises.
where
practitioners in the sunny east coast city of Napier invited their friends from
other parts of the country to help them establish a new practice site. On the
same day, there was going to be a Christmas parade and they quickly received
permission to walk with their Christmas hats and bright banners, distributing
about a thousand bookmarks with Falun Dafa contact information to sightseers
along the route.
And in this week’s
update from China:
The Falun Dafa Information
Center in New York, issued a news release on December 24, 2001 saying that
eyewitnesses have reported two more female Falun Gong practitioners killed in
custody in separate incidents. These deaths bring the current toll of confirmed
deaths to 329, although reliable sources inside the Chinese government say the
actual number exceeds 1,600 as of October 2001.
Ms. Zuo Shuchun was killed
during the act of force-feeding in Baimalong Labor Camp in Hunan Province in
March 2001. On the fourth day of a hunger strike by a number of mistreated
Falun Gong practitioners, guards shoved down her throat a long bamboo tube that
had been cut and sharpened. She died shortly thereafter.
In the second reported death,
Ms. Li Xiumei, 58 from Dalian City, Liaoning Province died on December 16,
2001. She was detained in Yaojia Detention Center in Dalian City, where she
went on a hunger strike. She was sent to a hospital when she was near death,
and died after rescue attempts failed.
"These two incidents
happened in two different regions of China," said Falun Dafa Information
Center spokesperson Gail Rachlin. "But they demonstrate the pervasive
mentality of extreme reaction to non-violent behavior, such as hunger
strikes." Ms. Rachlin continued, "Jiang Zemin and the 610 Office have
emboldened police to act recklessly against good people. As the information
finds its way outside the labor camps, prisons, and detention centers, good
people all over China and throughout the world are having their eyes opened to
the evil of this persecution."
On
December 23rd, 2001 a
United States District Court handed down a judgment against a senior official
of Hubei Province, China, for his role in instigating and carrying out the
persecution of Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) practitioners in China.
United States District Court
Judge Denise Cote entered a default judgment on December 21, 2001, against the
Communist Chinese Head of Public Security for Hubei Province, Mr. Zhao Zhifei.
The complaint charged Zhao with wrongful death, torture, crimes against
humanity, and other gross violations of international human rights law against
Falun Dafa practitioners in his home province of Hubei. Zhao was served with
the summons and a copy of the complaint last July in New York City while
traveling in the U.S.
The day after Zhao Zhifei was
served, he boarded a plane for China and did not return to the U.S. According
to reliable sources inside China, soon after Zhao’s return to China, a massive
hunt for the plaintiff, Mr. Peng Liang, and other Falun Gong practitioners in
Hubei Province began, particularly for those believed to have assisted Peng
Liang "transmit information over the internet." These sources say
that many Falun Gong practitioners in Wuchang district whom the police thought
to be associated with Peng Liang were arrested and tortured.
The plaintiff, Peng Liang was
arrested on August 30th, 2001 and then disappeared. His whereabouts
are still unknown.
Peng Liang had entrusted
Falun Gong practitioners in the U.S. to sue Zhao Zhifei after both his brother
and mother were tortured to death by police. Numerous eyewitnesses confirmed
that police beat Peng Liang's younger brother, Peng Min, on January 9 of this
year, causing a fracture in his fifth vertebra and a compression bone fracture
in his neck vertebra, resulting in complete paralysis. He died on April 6, 2001.
Peng Liang's mother Li Yingxiu died in the same hospital on April 29, 2001. Her
husband, the senior Peng, discovered numerous injuries on his wife’s head and
thickened, dried blood in her mouth while inspecting her body. The police told
him the reason for Li Yingxiu's death was that she "talked too much"
after her son’s death.
In early October during the
China-US human rights dialogue in Washington DC, a propaganda campaign
initiated by Chinese state-run media attacked the lawsuit claiming that Peng
Liang’s brother and mother both died of natural causes.
Carey R. D’Avino, attorney
for the plaintiff, declared "The default judgment today proves that the
barbarous allegations in the complaint are true. The defendant and the Chinese
Government do not have the courage to face a fair trial in a free country. The
United States Department of State will be notified of the Judge’s decision and
we will discuss with them an appropriate diplomatic response."
Voice of America has now
reported the beating to death of Ms. Zhang Min, a Falun Gong follower who was
arrested November 28th, 2001 while distributing literature
explaining the truth of the persecution against Falun Gong. Sources have
advised that Han Yunjie, head of the Yilin County Police Department and some of
his officials beat her for 60 hours while she was hung from a heating pipe by
her handcuffs. Afterwards, she was sent to the Yilan County No. 2 Detention
Center to be force-fed salt water. During the force-feeding, she drowned from
salt water entering her lungs.
Short stories of those in
China who didn’t believe that good is rewarded and evil is punished:
·
The vice-commissioner of
Baiquan County, Heilongjiang Province, Xin Yu, was the main person responsible
for persecuting Falun Gong. Less than 2 weeks after boasting that he was more
forceful than others in dealing with practitioners, he suffered a cerebral
hemorrhage, and died.
·
47-year-old Yang
Zhicheng, director of the Planned Pregnancy Committee of Sandaoyan Town in
Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, was responsible for persecuting Falun Gong
practitioners in Chenjiachuan Village. On November 8, 2001 while persecuting
practitioners there, he suddenly had a headache, felt dizzy, and had to be sent
to the emergency department of Zhaojianian Medical Unit. He was transferred to
the County People's Hospital, but the doctors could not save him and he died
that same night.
·
Zhao Dajun, former
director of Laocheng Police Station at Changtu City in Liaoning Province,
closely followed the orders of Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan to illegally arrest,
detain, and torture practitioners of Falun Gong. He was recently diagnosed with
fatal colon cancer.
Western viewers might think
it strange that we would link fatalities and calamities to the persecution of
Falun Gong. Orthodox cultivation paths and religions from both East and West
teach that good will be rewarded and evil will be punished. Falun Gong is an
ancient traditional path to enlightenment that stresses moral goodness – just
like traditional Western teachings. According to government sources inside
China, more than 1,600 Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death.
Those who persecute goodness will suffer.
A special appeal is being
made to the Taiwan Overseas Association and World Human Rights Organizations to rescue
Ms. Xiang Lijie, a Chinese
woman who is married to a Taiwanese citizen. Ms. Xiang benefited a great deal
from practicing Falun Gong. On travelling to Beijing to appeal to the Chinese
government she was illegally arrested and sent to a forced labor camp for one
and a half years.
After being released from the
labor camp, she asked for permission to return to Taiwan to join her family.
The "610 Office" of Changchun City, Jilin Province, refused to
process her request. Ms. Xiang was forced to leave her home to avoid constant
harassment by police. On December 5th, 2001, she was again arrested
by the police while distributing literature and is currently imprisoned in the
Liaoyuan Detention Center. No one is allowed to visit and her situation is very
dangerous.
Telephone numbers of the
relevant authorities are posted on the ClearWisdom Web site. Just search for
‘Xiang Lijie’ and you will find the article to access.
and finally…
More than 600 proclamations,
citations and resolutions honoring Falun Gong and its founder have been issued
in the United States. On a New York State Citation dated December 19, 2001 it
is written:
Whereas a great State is only
as great as those individuals who perform exemplary service on behalf of their
community, whether through unique achievement in professional or other
endeavors, or simply through a lifetime of good citizenship; and
Whereas Master Li Hongzhi
teaches Falun Dafa, a high-level personal cultivation system from China and
Master Li Hongzhi's teachings are helping to improve our society and has worked
tirelessly to bring Falun Dafa to the rest of the world; now therefore be it
Resolved, That this
legislative body pause in its deliberations to pay tribute to Master Li Hongzhi
on his commitment to Falun Dafa; and be it further that a copy of this citation
be transmitted to Master Li Hongzhi.
signed by Assembly member
Jacob E. Gunther III
A second Citation signed by
Senator Ada L. Smith honoring Falun Dafa Week in Orange County of New York was
also presented to Falun Dafa practitioners at the same time.
Thanks for watching FGMtv,
dedicated to breaking through China's information blockade, revealing
propaganda, and bringing you the truth of Falun Gong.