Hello, and welcome to the FGM TV weekly news review on January 21, 2003

· I'm Susan Mitchell.

In this week's update from China…

· 557 Falun Gong practitioners are confirmed to have died from torture while in custody, with 6 death reports received in the last week. Reliable sources inside China, however, put the actual death count in the thousands.

· In the last 7 days, torture reports have come in from 12 provinces, with numerous reports from Liaoning Province and the cities of Beijing, and Neijian.

· 587 people declared statements made as a result of torture to be void, now that their minds are clear. They say they will continue practicing Falun Gong.

Our top story this week:

· An update on the class action lawsuit, in which practitioners of Falun Gong are suing former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for genocide.

And some of our other stories:

· Police use glowing hot screwdrivers to brand a senior citizen arrested for exposing Chinese government propaganda

· China blocks another popular Internet Web site

· Continuing coverage from around the world of Falun Gong practitioners appealing for an end to the killing in China

· Introducing Falun Dafa to cities and towns in Queensland, Australia, and

· Christine Loftus interviews award-winning Canadian actor Michael Mahonen.

First our top story:

· We have an update on the class action lawsuit in which practitioners of Falun Gong are suing the former Chinese dictator, Jiang Zemin, for Genocide. The US District Court of the Northern District of Illinois granted all of the plaintiffs requests at the hearing on January 13, 2003.

· Seven Falun Gong practitioners filed the lawsuit on behalf of themselves and the class they represent. Jiang and the Gestapo like “610” office he created specifically to carry out the persecution, is accused of crimes against humanity, torture, improper execution and death, and genocide. Even though Jiang is a head of state, International law such as the Convention Against Genocide specifically exempts him from immunity for the atrocities performed under his rule. These are alleged to include: subjecting practitioners to electric shocks, placing them in water dungeons, sleep deprivation, placing perfectly healthy practitioners in mental hospitals, injecting them with mind-altering drugs, and causing severe psychological damage.

· Reliable third party reports substantiate the plaintiffs claims, including The United States Department of State Annual Report on International Religious Freedom for 2001, the United States Government Report on Human Rights Practices, the US Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, and reports by NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

· FGM TV will keep you informed about this ground breaking lawsuit.

· Because China has no Bill of Rights and no Freedom of the Press, people there have to risk arrest to find out about this lawsuit, which brings us to our next story.

Blocking the Bloggers!

· According to a report from Reuters, China has blocked an internet site called blogspot.com, which is used by more than one million people worldwide. People post on-line diaries, called “blogs,” on this Web site. Blogs are simply people’s thoughts written up for others to read. When a ruling party wants to control the thoughts and beliefs of its citizens at all costs, in order to maintain its stranglehold on all positions of power, I guess individual thoughts can be pretty dangerous. Internet police number 40,000 in Beijing alone. The Web police barred the site by blocking its Internet-protocol address, which is like cutting a phone line. Because blogspot.com is such a popular site, the blocking has caused a huge uproar.

· Authorities in China have blocked other sites, including dissident groups and foreign news organizations, like the Washington Post, the New York Times, the BBC, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, Amnesty International, and the National Endowment for Democracy. Anyone who is discovered accessing these sites is arrested for violating the law. Bloggers beware!

Police brand a senior citizen with glowing hot screwdrivers.

· We have received a report from Hunan Province that police agents Mr. Zhihe Yu and Mr. Wenhua Zhao, have been torturing Falun Gong practitioners for more than three years in Yueyang City. Included in the list of eleven names is sixty-two year old Mr. Jichuan Luo, who was severely injured when police hung him in the air until his feet did not touch the floor. Then they branded him in 48 places on his stomach, chest, and back with two glowing hot screwdrivers, which had been heated on a 2000 Watt electric stove.

· In a similar case in June of 2001, Mr. Yongjie Tan escaped from a labour camp, where he had also been branded. After making his way to Hong Kong, he hid in a container ship bound for the USA. He eventually reached Houston, Texas, where his burns – some reaching deep into the muscle tissue – were treated in hospital. Although his body remains seriously scarred, he has since recovered.

Continuing appeals against 43 New Torture Deaths confirmed since November 1, 2002.

· In a worldwide public awareness campaign of the increasing genocide in China, we have more photos and footage of appeals that were held in front of Chinese Embassies and Consulates around the world.

· Participating countries include Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Macao, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and many cities from the east to the west coasts of the U.S.A.

· Since November 1st, 2002, 43 new torture deaths have been confirmed.

· However, Chinese government sources say that for every report of wrongful death, as many as three others go unreported. Falun Gong practitioners are asking that these cases be investigated and the perpetrators be stopped and punished to the full extent of the law.

3-Day Vigils in Chicago and London, England

· Falun Dafa practitioners from Chicago and the entire Midwestern US States gathered in front of the Chinese Consulate on Dearborn Street for a 3 day vigil, calling for and end to the torture and murder of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

· Starting at 10 a.m. on January 12, 2003, they joined practitioners from 60 different countries all over the world, responding to the reported deaths of 43 practitioners since November 1. Together they called for an end to the atrocities.

· Voicing the understanding of good people everywhere, they pointed out that the persecution of people who have righteous beliefs will never succeed. Why? Because coercion can’t change people’s hearts.

· Also from January 12 to 14, practitioners gathered for a similar vigil in front of the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom.

· On all previous occasions, when practitioners held a press conference, the Embassy would use loudspeakers to drown them out, annoying the entire neighborhood with their noise. Even the police complained.

· At this press conference however, they were silent. The practitioners found out why when they aimed their video camera at an open window in the embassy. A staff member was videotaping the practitioners. Everyone understood immediately why their pictures were being taken.

· They would be identified and added to the blacklist the Chinese government keeps in order to restrict practitioner’s freedom, to keep them out of countries where they reveal the truth about the persecution to people and to governments, and to threaten and persecute their families still in China.

· Yet, knowing the underhanded purpose of the Embassy, the practitioners never wavered in their peaceful appeal.

· If the persecution of people who have righteous beliefs will never succeed, then can righteous beliefs put an end to this inhumanity? We know that it will, and that it is only a matter of time.

Queensland, Australia Learns of the Benefits and Persecution of Falun Gong

· Falun Gong practitioners traveled along the East Coast of Queensland, Australia introducing members of parliament, town councillors and the community to Falun Dafa's many benefits and to make them more aware of the violent persecution against innocent practitioners in China.

· They participated in the Wild Scotchman Festival at Gin Gin, the week-long Harbour Festival at Gladstone, and visited five other nearby cities and towns.

· With a mini photo display of the "Journey of Falun Dafa", they joined street parades and shared flyers with hundreds of parade onlookers at Gin Gin and Gladstone. All libraries were presented with Falun Gong books and exercise videos. The Gladstone City Library, in return, hosted a week-long display.

· Making a 5-7 hour round trip in one day, practitioners from Southeast Queensland supported the group. Four practitioners from Bowen continued contact with government officials in the Townsville/Thuringowa areas sending holiday greeting cards, CDs of Falun Gong music and information on the global campaign to rescue practitioners' family members.

Human Rights Group Reports on the Arrest of Underground Church Members and Leader

· According to the US-based group, Human Rights in China, on December 8, 2002, Shanghai police broke into the home of Mr. Guoxing Xu, leader of an underground Christian church and arrested him, along with more than 20 members of his congregation. During the raid, police confiscated printed materials, tapes and a computer.

· Mr. Xu was sentenced to 18 months in prison; all others arrested were released. The report said that Mr. Xu had previously served more than six years in a labour camp for defying government regulations against unofficial worship.

· China officially allows religious activities if they are registered with the state as "patriotic" organizations. But millions worship at unofficial, mainly evangelical, Christian churches.

"Journey of Falun Dafa" photo exhibit held in Connecticut Legislative Office Building

· On January 13, 2003, Falun Dafa practitioners held a news conference to open a fifteen-day "Journey of Falun Dafa" photo exhibition at the Legislative Office Building of Connecticut.

· Practitioners and State Assemblymen called upon people from all walks of life to help stop the killing of Falun Gong practitioners by the Jiang regime. They also urged people to use all lawful ways to obtain the release of Falun Gong family members detained in China.

· Attendees were also informed about the recent lawsuit in the US, charging former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for genocide against Falun Gong.

· At the end of the news conference, a film explaining some of the facts of the illegal persecution was shown.

· Over the fifteen days of the exhibition, many government employees and visitors to Connecticut will learn more about Falun Dafa and the unjust persecution in China.

Christine Loftus interviews Canadian actor, Michael Mahonen

· Practitioners of Falun Gong come from a variety of backgrounds and professions. Michael Mahonen, an award winning Canadian actor best known for his portrayal of Gus Pike on CBC's award winning series "Road to Avonlea," is a practitioner of Falun Gong who has been using his skills to help create truth clarifying videos and documentaries. Christine Loftus recently met with him.

INTERVIEW:

C: Hello Michael

M: Hello

C: Thank you for meeting with us today. I understand that you spend a lot of your spare time in a rather unique way in order to try to reveal to the public what is presently happening in China. Could you tell us a little bit about what it is you have been doing?

M: Well, I’ve been volunteering my time, like all of the other practitioners, to make film and television projects. There is a TV team whose purpose is to make these programs to reveal the truth of the persecution in China. This is being done through documentaries that show that it’s practiced around the world, that it’s freely practiced and embraced and awarded. Also, we hope to show that the persecution in China is much more severe than the people in China are led to believe and allowed to know even in their own country. In the outside world we have a lot of information about that. We would like to let them know through these film and TV productions that these things are indeed going on and that the practice is actually embraced around the world.

C: So what is it that you hope to achieve through these videos then?

M: Well, what we hope to do is to allow the Chinese people to see what they are not allowed to see because they have a blockage of information in their country. I’ve been practicing Falun Gong myself for two years now and I know that it’s a very good practice. It’s practiced in almost 60 countries now. But the only place that you cannot practice it is in China. They don’t know the truth about the practice because the information that they have been getting from their newspapers, television and their radio are not the truth about the persecution itself in their own country or the situation around the world. Falun Gong is widely accepted.

C: Thank you Michael

M: You’re welcome.

· Thanks Christine!

Thanks for watching the FGMtv weekly news review. See you next week!