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 April 9th, 2002
I¨m
Susan Mitchell.
In
this week's update from China´
，
The number of Falun Dafa practitioners
verified to have died while in detention is 396. However, reliable sources
inside China put the actual death count at more than 1,700.
Some of our stories this week:
，
Video coverage of news conference
in Ireland with Falun Gong post graduate student, Zhao Ming, after his release
from Tuanhe Labor Camp
，
a Human Rights Parallel Forum is
held in Geneva during the UNHRC annual meeting
，
the European Union is on track to
condemn rights abuses in China
，
A major state-run newspaper in
Guanzhou prints 2 poems by the founder of Falun Gong
，
Violent car crashes kill several
Chinese officials who persecuted Falun Dafa practitioners
Four-year-old cousins in Geneva help each other with
the Falun Gong exercises!
Video coverage of the press conference with Falun Gong post graduate
student, Zhao Ming, after his release from Tuanhe
Labor Camp in Beijing has now been made available. Here are some highlights.
Moving now to Europe, where a Human Rights Parallel Forum calls for
reform of the United Nations Human Rights Commission (the UNHRC)
，
PRNewswire reported last week that a day-long
Human Rights Parallel Forum was held to call for reforms that address the
structure and regulations of the UNHRC.
，
Increasingly, there is the concern that those governments,
who are the worst violators of human rights, easily obtain a seat before the
UNHRC.
，
They use their influence to silence those they
oppress.
，
Erping Zhang, President of the Falun Gong
International Committee for Human Rights, spoke as a panelist at the forum.
，
Sylvia Iriondo, President of Mothers & Women
Against Repression, and one of the conference organizers, said it provided
"a unique opportunity for the media, government representatives and Non
Governmental Organizations to obtain current information that is regrettably
withheld during the session of the UNHRC.
，
The South China Morning Post reported last Saturday that the
European Parliament is set to approve a resolution condemning China for its
human rights record and demanding an end to oppression of minorities.
，
EU elected representatives are due to vote next Wednesday on
a report that was drawn on behalf of the parliamentary committee on foreign
affairs.
，
While the report welcomes Beijing's support for the
international fight against terrorism, it emphasizes that this cannot justify
human rights abuses and a disregard of the rule of law.
，
It calls upon China to implement without delay the UN
conventions that it has ratified.
，
A draft of the resolution due for adoption says Parliament
is still extremely concerned with the overall rights situation in China.
It "notes with disquiet the increasingly high number of
executions," and it condemns the widespread use of torture against Falun
Gong practitioners among others.
This
week, we have received photographs from Budapest, Warsaw, London, Moscow, Los
Angeles and Sydney.
and over to
WASHINGTON, D.C. where a groundbreaking case has been filed with the U.S.
District Court
，
51 United States citizens, residents, and one non-profit
organization filed a civil lawsuit on April 3rd against the People's
Republic of China Ministry of State Security and Ministry of Public Security,
China Central Television (CCTV), individuals in the Ministries' employ, P.R.C.
Embassy and Consulate officials in the United States, various John Doe thugs,
and state-owned and private sector business entities.
，
They are charged with a criminal campaign on American soil
to intimidate, injure, and suppress practitioners and supporters of Falun Gong.
，
This is a groundbreaking case, because there is no legal
precedent for a situation where a foreign government has engaged in activities
in violation of U.S. laws on a large scale.
The
Commissioners of Dauphin County of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Issue a
Proclamation Recognizing Master Li Hongzhi
On behalf of the 250,000 residents of Harrisburg, the proclamation
commends Falun Gong founder, Master Li Hongzhi, for his commitment to the
principles of truth, compassion and forbearance which are working toward the
improvement of society, and for his raising the level of discourse in the
United States about human rights violations that currently exist in China.
A
member of the Australian Legislative Assembly accuses the Foreign Minister of
setting a dangerous precedent´
，
In an interview with Greens MLA Kerrie Tucker, the Canberra
Times reported her saying that the order preventing protesters outside the
Chinese Embassy from exhibiting any banners or making noise in support of the
Falun Gong movement set a dangerous precedent and needed to be explained to
Australian people.
，
Ms Tucker was speaking after attending a protest at which
police confiscated from her a banner emblazoned with the Falun Gong motto of
"truthfulness, forbearance and compassion", while allowing another
banner, from Amnesty International, to remain standing.
，
"This is an extraordinary situation and [Foreign
Minister] Alexander Downer needs to explain himself to the Australian
community. Why is he prepared to deny citizens the right to protest on this
matter?"
，
Under diplomatic privileges and immunities regulations
calling for the removal of banners and "implements used to make amplified
noise" at protests conducted by the Falun Gong movement, Mr Downer imposed
a 30-day order on March 16, shortly before the arrival of Chinese Foreign
Minister Tang Jiaxuan,
，
Mr Downer's office said the order was made to protect the
security and dignity of staff at the embassy, who had been unsettled by the
nine-month long protest.
，
But Ms Tucker said there had been much rowdier,
confrontational, and no doubt unsettling protests outside the South African,
Indonesian and French Embassies in the past, and they had not attracted a
similar ban.
"Why
is it this embassy is so different from every other embassy in Canberra where
we have the right to protest about any issue of concern? It's a very serious
precedent that has been set here and Mr Downer needs to be accountable for
it."
while
Canada and northern Europe are just beginning to emerge from winter snow and
rain, in Australia, it's time for summer parades.
Practitioners
were out enjoying the sun on their lotus float for the annual grand festival
parade in the gold mining city of Bendigo.
At
considerable risk to their lives, Falun Dafa practitioners recently managed to
successfully hang several large banners in public places in a city in
north-east China.
They
read "Falun Dafa is Good!"
And,
using the same text, banners were also hung from tall apartment buildings near
a university and also in the Tongzhou District of Beijing.
Two
Violent car crashes kill Chinese authorities:
The director
of the Jianerji factory in Gansu Province not only often attacked Falun
Dafa, but also refused to pay five practitioners' salaries for a long time.
，
In October 2001, on his way to attend a conference in
Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, he borrowed a luxury car owned by his factory
to take his wife and son (a university student) on a sightseeing trip.
，
On his way back, the car veered off the road and over a
cliff, killing all four passengers. His wife had returned home early and was
not involved in the accident.
In Dingxin
City of Hebei Province, high school principal Tian Huaquan illegally
forced all staff and students to defame Falun Gong by signing slanderous
material.
，
In addition, he threatened them by saying, that "Staff
who refuse to sign will be laid off. Students wanting to attend university who
refuse to sign won't be allowed to take university admission tests, and all
other students who refuse to sign will be kicked out of high school."
，
In 2001, Tian Huaquan burned to death when his car collided
with another and burst into flames.
According
to the March 22nd report from Xinhua News Agency, the sand storm in
Beijing that lasted from March 20th to the 22nd dumped around about 30,000 tons of sand
and dust on the city. That works out to an average of 3 kilograms or about 7
pounds) of dirt per person.
A
major state-run newspaper in Guangzhou prints poems by Falun Gong founder
，
Reuters news service reporting from Beijing said that an
editor of a major state-run newspaper confirmed that two poems written by Falun
Gong's exiled spiritual leader Li Hongzhi were printed on an economic page in
the March 30 edition of South China's Guangzhou Daily.
，
The editor said that a Falun Gong adherent presented the two
poems as part of an article submitted to the page. He said, "The editor in
charge mistook the poems, which were very ambiguous in meaning, for a
description of the general economic situation. They passed through all the
editorial checks and got published."
，
Other officials at the newspaper were not available for
comment, but the editor said there was speculation that harsh disciplinary
action would be taken against editorial staff found responsible for printing
the poems.
and
finally´
，
When you're only four years old, it's nice to have a
(slightly) older cousin who can teach you how to do things!
，
Especially when you're in Geneva and everyone is so busy.
，
And´ I guess we're doing o.k. because someone else wants to
learn from us!!
Thanks for watching FGMTV, dedicated to breaking through China's information blockade, revealing propaganda, and bringing you the truth of Falun Gong.