Hello, and welcome to the weekly FGMtv news review. I'm Susan Mitchell.

§ Here at FGMtv we focus on programs and news that illuminate the truth of Falun Gong, which is also known as Falun Dafa.

§ Falun Dafa is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that includes exercise and meditation. Its principles are based on being good, true and enduring.

§ The practice began in China in 1992 and quickly spread by word of mouth throughout the country.

§ In 1998, a government survey concluded that the number of practitioners exceeded membership in the communist party.

§ One year later, dictator Jiang Zemin began a brutal persecution that violates not only the Chinese constitution, but also international treaties signed by China.

In this week's update from China…

§ 720 Falun Gong practitioners are verified to have died from torture while in custody. However, reliable sources inside China put the actual total death count in the thousands.

§ Torture reports in the last seven days have come in from provinces across the country, and from the cities of Beijing and Nanjing.

Our top story this week:

American citizen is beaten and brutally force-fed in China's Nanjing Prison

And some of our other stories:

§ Jiang Zemin declared to be 'the greatest threat to Regional and American security' by former U.S. Ambassador

§ Human Rights Rally in Sydney, Australia

§ Plaintiff in U.S. Genocide Lawsuit Suing Jiang Zemin is thrown into a Chinese Labor Camp

§ Falun Gong Entry Wins President's Award in Vancouver area parade

§ Falun Gong at a Health Congress in Croatia

First, our top story:

§ According to sources in the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai, Dr. Charles Li, a U.S. citizen and practitioner of Falun Gong, who is being held in a Chinese prison, has been on hunger strike since May 27. He has been force-fed since May 31 in a hospital inside the Nanjing Prison.

§ Force-feeding accounts for more than 10% of all deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in Chinese custody. The reason for this is because untrained non-medical personnel insert the tubes and often the victim is choked or the tube perforates the esophegus or other parts of the body. Also, the tubes themselves are often large and unclean.

§ Mr. Stuart Patt, a spokesperson for the Consular Affairs Bureau of the U.S. State Department, said in an interview with the Epoch Times Chinese-language newspaper: “If Charles Li is injured because of his hunger strike, we will hold the relevant Chinese officials responsible.”

§ Upon hearing about Dr. Li’s situation, a U.S. consulate official drove from Shanghai to the Nanjing Prison to see Dr. Li. However, prison officials would not allow him to see Dr. Li.

§ Dr. Charles Li was imprisoned in China after being ushered through a “show trial” in April for allegedly “preparing” to tap into Chinese state-run T.V. and broadcast programs exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in China.

§ According to recent United Nations Human Rights Commission annual reports, many Falun Gong practitioners have been killed as a result of force-feeding while on hunger strikes in Chinese prisons and labor camps.

FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR CALLS JIANG ZEMIN "THE GREATEST THREAT TO REGIONAL AND AMERICAN SECURITY."

§ U.S. Newswire has reported that in an interview with Friends of Falun Gong USA, former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary Mark Palmer has called upon the U.S. government to support true democracy in China by exposing corrupt Communist officials.

§ He warned that former Chinese Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin is the "greatest threat to regional and American security." Mr. Palmer discussed the accountability of the Jiang regime in the persecution of Falun Gong, and the corruption of the Party's elite, who have brought vast sums of money out of China into the United States and other countries.

§ When asked about Party leaders with illegal assets in the U.S., Palmer suggested the majority of Chinese people would support the U.S. exposing them. He said, "It would encourage them to demand an honest, accountable system in China, one in which judges act according to the law and not the Communist bosses and their personal interests."

Human Rights Rally in Sydney, Australia

§ On Sunday, 1 June 2003, a Human Rights Rally was held at Town Hall Square in the center of Sydney, Australia. It was organized by the "Anti Hong Kong Article 23 Association," to raise the awareness that "Exposing Lies, Saving Lives" is a call for the freedom of basic human rights in Hong Kong and China.

§ Many groups attended the rally, including the Chinese Labor Party, The Federation for A Democratic China (FDC), The Chinese Alliance for Democracy (CAD), World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), as well as academic representatives, NSW State government M.L.C's and Falun Gong practitioners.

§ The rally was hosted by Mr Stephen Sim from Radio 2NBS FM NSW. He explained that the importance of the event was to bring a greater awareness of the facts about China's coverup of the SARS epidemic, the new draconian law in Hong Kong known as "Article 23," and the former leader of China being sued for genocide. These are all matters that China does not want the world to know about.

§ From the recent SARS epidemic, people have awakened to how the Jiang regime's cover-up endangered the whole world. In addition to killing people globally, it was pointed out that SARS has aggravated Australia's worst trade deficit.

§ Participants wore masks during the event to symbolize the lies and the lack of freedom that cannot be expressed, and called it "Masked by Deception."

Plaintiff in U.S. Lawsuit is sent to Chinese labor camp

§ Ms. Lanxiang Zhao, a Chinese-American resident of Maryland, has reported that her sister, Meiyu Zhao, has been taken from her home and thrown into a Chinese labor camp. Meiyu Zhao, a 25 year-old Falun Gong practitioner, survived one and a half years of torture in Sanshui Women's Forced Labor Camp in Guangdong province. Her crime? She travelled to Beijing to file an appeal with the government appeals office.

§ On hearing of the U.S. lawsuit suing former President Jiang Zemin with genocide, Meiyu decided to add her name to the list of plaintiffs in the case. In mid-May, police from her hometown of Huizhou in Guangdong Province traveled over 100 miles to the city of Shenzhen where she was living with her brother. They ransacked her brother's home, stole many valuables, confiscated the draft document of her charges against Jiang, and arrested her. She was taken to Huizhou police station and then sent to a labor camp.

§ Ms. Lanxiang Zhao said, "My family is overcome with fear. They are very nervous and afraid of talking about my sister. The police have declared this a 'major case.'"

§ The plaintiffs' attorney Terri Marsh said, "Jiang's good friend, the former leader of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, is currently being tried in the same court [that is trying Nazi war criminals]. In China, the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners who refuse to give up Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance is taking place, and it is the world's responsibility to put Jiang on trial."

Falun Gong Entry Wins President's Award in Vancouver Area Parade

§ On May 24, 2003, 140 groups from different cities of the Vancouver Area participated in the Hyack Festival Parade in New Westminster. The Falun Gong group won the President's Award--first place among the Club and Association Groups.

§ Colorful floats and cheerful people brought a festive and fun atmosphere to the small city. Many people lined the road. At the front of the Falun Gong procession were banners reading, "Falun Dafa" and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance."

§ Young practitioners on a beautiful float performed the five sets of exercises, and a graceful Fan Dance and elegant Chinese Tang Dynasty Dance followed. Passersby were heard to say, 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance' is good! I support that."

§ When the prize was awarded, the host expressed a hope that Falun Gong practitioners would be sure to participate in next year's event, as well as other upcoming community festivities.

Our Special Report this week comes from Toronto, where Christine Loftus interviewed Connie Chipkar:

Christine: Hi Connie, thanks for meeting with us today. I understand there are a lot of people gathered here in front of the Chinese Consulate in Toronto. Can you tell us why they are here?

Connie: We are here today on a hunger strike. We are telling America that we are with them. An American citizen, Charles Lee, has been imprisoned as soon as he landed in China in January. And he has been put through a show trial. And now the only way that he could tell everyone that he is mistreated, and he is innocent is by hunger-strike. This is his 5th day. We are here at the Toronto Consulate so that every one could be made aware.

We had a letter that was presented to the American Council General here in Toronto. The US Government has said that the Chinese Government is completely responsible to Charles' well being. We agree with that. We cannot know the truth about what's happening over there until Charles is home again, on free soil. So we join him in his hunger strike, and hope he will soon be released.

Christine: So what do you hope to achieve here today?

Connie: Today, as in the letter we state: we express our commitment in mind and in our words, to work together with all our hearts, to free innocent Charles Lee, to stop this brutal and unjust persecution.

Christine: Thank you, Connie.

Thanks Christine and Connie.

Moving now to Washington D.C., where inconsistencies are being uncovered in CCTV's story of the tragic self-immolation incident in Tiananmen Square

§ On last week's program, we told you that a senior reporter for China's state run TV Network, CCTV, is being investigated for her role in producing fabricated programs to incite hatred against Falun Gong. The main program is the tragic self-immolation incident where some people set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square and the Chinese government claimed they were Falun Gong practitioners.

§ We mentioned one man who was holding an unburned plastic pop bottle between his legs, even though he himself was badly burned on Tiananmen Square. CCTV said that his name was Mr. Jindong Wang.

§ Mr. John Jaw, president of The World Organization for the Investigation of the Persecution of Falun Gong, presented more new findings on the self-immolation incident during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC recently.

§ He advised that speech identification technology at a world-renowned lab for Chinese speech identification, synthesis and verification determined that the "Jindong Wang," who appeared several times on China's state-run CCTV programs, was actually played by two different people.

§ Also, medical personnel at Jishuitan Hospital, where the victims were taken after the incident, revealed that the ambulance carrying the self-immolators arrived two hours after leaving Tiananmen Square. Why should a 6 mile 15 minute trip take two hours? Where were the victims during these two hours?

Falun Gong at a Health Congress in Zagreb, Croatia

§ Falun Dafa practitioners from Austria and Sweden were invited to introduce Falun Gong at the 4th Croatian Congress on the Collaboration of Conventional and Alternative Medicine.

§ The congress was sponsored by the Croatian Ministry of Health, and took place in the "Pavilion of the People's Republic of China" in Zagreb, on May 24, 2003.

§ Practitioners briefly introduced the practice and demonstrated the exercises. They talked about the health benefits that Falun Gong has brought to millions of practitioners around the world, and emphasized that it is not a healing method but a practice for improving a person's character. They told the audience about the brutal persecution in China and the peaceful activities of practitioners around the world who are kindly appealing for help to stop the persecution. The audience responded with warm applause.

§ A detailed article describing Falun Gong also appeared in the official congress book.

§ Practitioners said that the people of Croatia are very open and supportive towards Falun Gong. An introductory book of the practice and also a Falun Dafa Web site are available in Croatian, and in a short period of time, Falun Gong has spread to many cities in the country of Croatia.

Thanks for watching the FGMtv weekly news review.

I'm Susan Mitchell. See you next week!