Falun Gong is freely practiced in more than 50 countries, 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 information about the persecution, FGM TV brings you the stories you may not hear anywhere else.

 

Hello, and welcome to the FGM TV weekly news review on September 24th, 2002

I'm David Tompkins

 

In this week's update from China…

·         The number of Falun Gong practitioners verified to have died while in detention is 480, with details of 3 more confirmed deaths received in the past week. Reliable sources inside China put the actual death count in the thousands.

·         In the last 7 days, reports of persecution have come in from 12 provinces and from the cities of Beijing and Harbin.

·         359 people declared as void all statements they had made during inquisition under torture and at times when their minds were not clear. They said they intend to continue to practice Falun Gong.

 

Our top story this week:

Fifteen Falun Gong practitioners are sentenced of up to 20 years for interrupting state television broadcasts in China and telling people the facts of the persecution

 

And some of our other stories:

·         A practitioner in Heilongjiang Province successfully defends himself in court

·         610 officials refuse to release a professor of engineering from a mental hospital

·         The first European Falun Dafa experience sharing conference

·         Korean media examines the facts of the persecution

·         Austrian practitioners hold a candlelight vigil

·         Christine Loftus looks at the Canadian campaign to rescue family members detained in China

·         A family member is released, but state-run media continue to lie to the public.

·         And finally, a grandmother discovers something miraculous in Falun Gong.

 

·         Fifteen Falun Gong practitioners received prison sentences of up to 20 years for interrupting state television broadcasts and exposing the facts of the persecution by the Chinese communist regime.

·         The practitioners were convicted of tapping into the cable systems in Changchun City, Jilin Province on March 5. The broadcasts included programs showing the support of Falun Gong in over 50 countries around the world.

·         For over three years, the state-run media in China has been saturated with campaigns designed to create a bias in people against Falun Gong. This propaganda accuses practitioners of horrendous crimes. It also lies to cover up the torture and murder of innocent people.

·         In the Chinese state-run media, the freedoms protected under China's own constitution, including freedom of speech, are stripped from practitioners of Falun Gong. In the state- run media, Falun Gong, like other suppressed groups, has been denied a chance to speak in its own defense.

·         By broadcasting programs that expose the facts of the persecution in China, practitioners are using peaceful means to overcome the lies and slander.

·         Since March, practitioners have interrupted state-run programs in several other cities.  They even tapped into a state satellite system in June beaming the truth of Falun Gong to millions.

 

·         Kong Xiangzhu, a practitioner in Shuangvashan City, Heilongjiang Province successfully defends himself in a semi-secret trial where only two of his family members were allowed to attend.

·         When he walked onto the witness stand he cried, "Falun Dafa is Good".

·         When the judge asked him, "Why did you go to Beijing?"

·         He answered: "Falun Dafa is good, yet it is libeled, slandered and its practitioners are beaten up by bad people. This is the worst injustice in history since ancient times, so I went to Beijing to appeal for Dafa."

·         He was asked: "Were the distribution of flyers and the playing of the Falun Gong program on cable TV done by you?"

·         He answered: "Yes. I solely did them. What I played are facts. The information was also delivered to allow the common people to be aware of the truth behind the deceit. It is for the sake of preventing people from being deluded by lies."

·         He was asked: "Do you know the consequences of doing this?"

·         He replied: "For the sake of clarifying the truth and saving people, I have never thought about my own well-being.

·         He was asked: "You accused the vice squad of using violence against you. Did such a thing really happen?"

·         Yes, he replied.

·         He was asked: "What evidence do you have?"

·         He lifted his clothing and revealed the scar that he received from an emergency rescue after police had almost killed him. He said, "This scar serves as evidence."

 

·         The 610 office refuses to release a professor of civil engineering from a mental hospital despite doctors having determined that she is a good and healthy person.

·         Ms. Wu Xiaohua, an Associate Professor at the Anhui Institute of Civil Engineering, is detained in a Mental Hospital for refusing to renounce her belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. 

·         She was recently forbidden from attending her father’s funeral.  Reports indicate that she is extremely weak and her life is in great jeopardy.

·         During the past 3 years Xiaohua has been wrongfully abducted several times. She has suffered forced brainwashing, and various inhuman tortures including being beaten and cursed. She has been force-fed and locked in a confined cell. Her mouth was once stuffed with sanitary towel soaked with menses and a dust cloth that had been used to clean the toilet. She has forcefully been given psychiatric drugs and she has also suffered electric shocks while tied to a bed.

·         Even so, she continues to clarify the truth.

·         Now the labor camp wants to send her home. Doctors in the mental hospital also do not want to hold her there any more. They said that she is a good and mentally healthy person.

·         However, the 610 Office has threatened her husband and forbidden him from taking her home.

 

·         Last week we reported that with the introduction of the practice to Albania, all European countries have received the teachings of Falun Dafa. 

·         And this week the first European Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference was successfully held in Copenhagen.

·         Practitioners gathered from all over Europe. They shared their experiences of practicing Falun Gong and studying the teachings. 

·         There were a great variety of experiences shared, from an Icelandic practitioner, to a Swiss practitioner who appealed in Tiananmen Square, and to an 89 year-old British Lord.

 

Korean media publish an in-depth examination of the persecution of Falun Gong

·         On September 12, an influential Korean newspaper, the “Agreement of Speakers”, published a comprehensive report, detailing the true facts of the self-immolation incident in Tiananmen Square in January 2001.

·         The report examined the deconstruction of the CCTV footage, and showed the discrepancy between the sitting posture of person in the video and the correct Falun Gong posture of sitting with legs crossed and hands conjoined. 

·         It also showed the many other inconsistencies that reveal this incident to be a deceptive tragedy staged by the Chinese regime.

·         At the same time, the newspaper also published Resolution 188 passed by the United States House of Representatives.  This bill instructs US agencies to investigate illegal use of diplomatic influence to persecute Falun Gong in the United States.

 

·         As Zhu Rongji, the Prime Minister of the Chinese regime, visited Austria, the National Radio reported on the persecution of Falun Gong. 

·         It began "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance is the principle of Falun Gong".  It went on to discuss the persecution of practitioners in China.

·         It further reported that practitioners had given a letter of appeal to Austria's Prime Minister, asking him to pressure the Chinese regime to stop the persecution.

·         In the evening of September 20th, as the Chinese and Austrian Prime Ministers gathered for a state dinner, Falun Gong practitioners held a candlelight vigil in front of the PM's Office to commemorate those who have died.

 

·         And now, Christine Loftus reports on a campaign to rescue family members by practitioners in Canada

·         Thank you, Christine.

 

The story about Ms. Wu, the practitioner released through the campaign to rescue family members, has a rather surprising twist…

·         As of September 16 the Tianjin "Tonight" news web site, a state-run media outlet, still claimed that Ms. Wu and her brother had renounced Falun Gong and had become rich as grape farmers.

·         The February 10, 2001 story entitled “Abandoning Falun Gong, Stepping on the Road to Making a Fortune,” was part of a fabricated claim by the Chinese regime to deny the practice of illegal detention and torture by authorities. 

·         Ms. Wu, after her recent release, says she neither renounced Falun Gong nor was released at any time; much less did she embark on a new career of growing grapes.

·         She said, "The article is completely fabricated for the purpose of persecuting Falun Gong and deceiving the public."

·         Ms. Wu suffered in a Chinese labor camp for her beliefs from January 2001 until early September 2002.  Relatives believe her brother Zhanzhong Wu is still being held in the Beichen District Shuangkou Labor Camp in Tianjin City.

 

And finally…

·         A Chinese grandmother suffered from a protrusion of the lumbar vertebra disc, and she had been bedridden, not able to stand or walk.

·         A Falun Gong practitioner sent her a copy of Zhuan Falun. After two days, the elderly lady had read it.  She had been so engrossed in it that she had forgotten to take her medicine.

·         On the third day, she said to herself: "Everybody has gone to work in the field. Why don’t I quickly make lunch for them?” After she prepared the lunch, she went back to bed again and continued reading.

·         Her family was surprised when they came home and asked who had cooked the lunch.

·         The old grandma then realized what she had done. She said, "I have only read this book for three days and I suddenly forgot that I am a patient. It was noontime and I wanted to prepare lunch for you. I continued reading after I finished cooking..."

·         Her husband said, "No wonder so many people still insist on practicing Falun Gong despite the brutal crackdown! I'll go to buy a tape recorder for you. Let's formally start to practice Falun Gong!" Their family said, "Please have lunch first. You can go to buy it in the afternoon!" The grandfather didn't want to wait, and he went to buy the tape recorder anyway.

 

Thanks for watching FGMtv, dedicated to breaking through China's information blockade, revealing propaganda, and bringing you the truth of Falun Gong.