Falun Dafa Information Center    (View article as web page: http://faluninfo.net/article/865/)
FDIC Annual Report: "Fueled by Olympics, Falun Gong Persecution Escalated Sharply in 2008"
News from Inside China:
FDIC:
"Brutal Torture and Disappearance of Renowned Attorney Demands a Clear
International Response"
Nottingham
Evening Post: "Sister Freed from Chinese Labour Camp"
Bloomberg:
"China Vows Crackdown on Falun Gong, Tibet Separatists This Year"
 Chinese
Human Rights Defenders: Report on "Re-education Through Labor" Cites Falun
Gong as One of Largest Groups in Camps
News outside China:
FDIC:
"UN Review Must Address China's Largest Population of Prisoners of Conscience"
FDIC
Annual Report: "Fueled by Olympics, Falun Gong Persecution Escalated Sharply
in 2008"
February 10: The Falun Dafa Information Center released today a comprehensive
report that documents a variety of rights violations against Falun Gong
adherents, both inside and outside China, that occurred in 2008. It indicates
that the Communist Party's campaign against Falun Gong escalated sharply
during the year as China's rulers took advantage of the Olympic games to
catalyze and justify the large-scale arrest, imprisonment, and monitoring of
Chinese citizens known to adhere to the spiritual practice.
The report draws on a wide range of sources including first-hand accounts from practitioners, their families, and human rights lawyers, Chinese government websites, foreign media reports, research by Amnesty International, and a thorough study by the Congressional Executive Commission on China.
Read full 2008 Annual Report online at http://www.faluninfo.net/topic/154/ of download PDF at http://media.faluninfo.net/media/doc/2009/02/FDIC-2008-Annual-Report.pdf
News from Inside China
FDIC:
"Brutal Torture and Disappearance of Renowned Attorney Demands a Clear
International Response"
February 14: "Chinese security forces' severe torture and disappearance of
leading human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Gao Zhisheng
highlights the life-threatening danger facing Falun Gong adherents and those
who come to their defense in China and must prompt a strong international
response."
"The Falun Dafa Information Center calls for:
- The Chinese regime to immediately and unconditionally release Gao Zhisheng.
- President Barack Obama and other world leaders to make a personal, public appeal to the Chinese authorities to release Gao.
- The United States and other nations to take an unequivocal and public stance against the persecution of Falun Gong in China, which has further escalated recently."
To read more, see: http://www.faluninfo.net/article/850/?cid=84
On Gao, see also: Wall Street Journal, "The Disappearance of Gao Zhisheng" by Jerome Cohen and Eva Pils: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123410699583160731.html
Nottingham
Evening Post: "Sister Freed from Chinese Labour Camp"
February 10: "A woman has been released early from a Chinese labour camp after
a campaign by her family in Nottingham. Wenjian Liang, 41, was imprisoned for
practising the Falun Gong religion, which has its roots in Buddhism and is
banned by the Chinese government. However, Wenjian's sister, Jane Liang, has
secured her release two months before the sentence was due to expire....
"I am not in the mood for a celebration. I always worry about her. This is the second time she has been released," "I have not even asked what happened in the labour camp. It is likely her phone has been tapped. I just ring her to say hello and make sure she is there."
For an Amnesty International urgent action issued when Wenjian Liang, her husband and other Falun Gong adherents were detained in 2007, see: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA17/014/2007/en/dom-ASA170142007en.html
Bloomberg:
"China Vows Crackdown on Falun Gong, Tibet Separatists This Year"
February 11: "Cracking down on "ethnic separatist forces, violent terrorists,
and ... Falun Gong" will top the list of major tasks for the security forces
in 2009, according to a statement released on the ministry 's Web Site today...
This year marks the 50th anniversary of China's quelling of an uprising in Tibet, the 20th anniversary of the crackdown on students and pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square and the 10th anniversary of the government's outlawing of the Falun Gong movement."
To read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601089&sid=aOW7Jd8oONrM&refer=china
Chinese
Human Rights Defenders: Report on "Re-education Through Labor" Cites Falun
Gong as One of Largest Groups in Camps
February 8: "More than half of our 13 interviewees remarked on the persecution
of Falun Gong practitioners in RTL camps. They said Falun Gong practitioners
make up one of the largest groups of detainees in the camp, and that they are
often persecuted because of their faith:Â
'Inside the camp, disobedient detainees were made to sit on the tiger bench, especially if they were Falun Gong practitioners. They were severely persecuted...Falun Gong practitioners were often not allowed to sleep until they promised to reform and wrote letters denouncing their beliefs. Only then would their situations improve", said Du Fengqin (Interview 6)'
'Of all the detainees, the Falun Gong practitioners were the largest group... Normally, Falun Gong practitioners weren't allowed to have visitors unless they admitted their guilt and worked especially hard,' said Feng Xixia (Interview 11), who spent three months in a RTL camp in Shaanxi Province."
To read full report: http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/dclarke/public/CHRD_RTL_Report.pdf
News outside China
FDIC:
"UN Review Must Address China's Largest Population of Prisoners of Conscience"
Member states of the United Nations Human Rights Council must question the PRC
over the ongoing--and recently escalated--persecution of Falun Gong adherents
in China at Monday's Universal Periodic Review session. the Falun Dafa
Information Center said Friday. ...
The year 2008 witnessed a clear escalation of the campaign against Falun Gong adherents, as thousands were arrested nationwide. Many of those arrested have been held in long-term pre-trial detention as the authorities were apparently waiting for the conclusion of the Olympic games to sentence them. Following this pattern, in the months since the closing ceremonies, there has been a spike in trials in which adherents have been sentenced to up to 13 years in prison.
To read more: http://www.faluninfo.net/article/841/?cid=84
Background
Founded in 1999, the Falun Dafa Information Center is a New York-based organization that documents the rights violations of adherents of Falun Gong (or "Falun Dafa") taking place in the People's Republic of China. In July of 1999 China's autocratic Communist Party launched an unlawful campaign of arrests, violence, and propaganda with the intent of "eradicating" the apolitical practice; it is believed certain leaders feared the influence of the practice' 100 million adherents. The campaign has since grown in violence and scope, with millions having been detained or sent to forced labor camps. The Center has verified details of over 3,000 deaths and over 63,000 cases of torture in custody (reports / sources). Falun Gong is a traditional-style Buddhist "qigong" practice, with roots in the Chinese heritage of cultivating the mind/body for health and spiritual growth.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER
Contacts: Gail Rachlin (+1 917-757-9780), Levi Browde (+1 646-415-0998), Erping Zhang (+1 646-533-6147), or Joel Chipkar (+1 416-709-8678)
Fax: 646-792-3916 Email: contact@faluninfo.net, Website: http://www.faluninfo.net/
Category: Falun Dafa in the Media
