Practitioners hold banners and appeal outside the Chinese Embassy in Madrid
News and Activities from Around the
World -- November 18, 2005
Issued by Clearwisdom Net
On November 8, 2005, United Kingdom Member of Parliament David Howarth put forward an Early Day Motion (EDM 966) entitled, "RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN CHINA." The motion calls for the release from prison of all Falun Gong practitioners in China and has already received 37 signatures from UK MPs. The motion also calls for Falun Gong practitioners to be given the freedom to practice their belief, and supports an end to the discrimination against Falun Gong practitioners in China. Under the current situation in China, practitioners are often prohibited from being employed as part of former leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Jiang Zemin's systematic policy to "destroy Falun Gong practitioners physically, bankrupt them financially and ruin their reputations."
An Early Day Motion, or EDM, is a motion by Members of Parliament calling for a debate on a particular subject. The purpose for designating a motion as such is to enable MPs to draw attention to an issue and to canvass support for their views by inviting other Members to add their signatures in support of the motion. Members may also add amendments to existing EDMs. Below is the full text of EDM 966:
"That this House calls on the Chinese government to release from detention and incarceration all Falun Gong practitioners and all others held for the peaceful expression or practice of their beliefs, to permit the resumption of free public and private religious practice, including that of Falun Gong practitioners, to desist from all discrimination in access to public services and employment against Falun Gong practitioners, to abolish the system of re-education through labor of religious believers, and to remove from its criminal code all provisions criminalizing peaceful religious organizations; and urges the Chinese government to implement the recommendations of the UN Committee Against Torture, to allow domestic and foreign human rights observers to attend criminal trials, and to revise regulations that effectively censor the media and the internet and that interfere with the freedom to seek, receive and impart information in accordance with international human rights standards."
From October 26 to 31, 2005, the International Society for Human Rights (IGFM) held a photo exhibition exposing human rights abuses in China entitled, "Field of Shame." The exhibition was displayed in Nord-Rhein Westfalen, Dusseldorf and Gelsenkirchen. Photographs and articles about Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted in China were part of this exhibition, which was held on the eve of Chinese Communist Party leader Hu Jintao's visit to Germany.
On October 26, the exhibition was held on a busy downtown square behind the train station in Dusseldorf. A press conference was held at twelve o'clock. A representative from an international human rights organization and nearly ten representatives from other organizations came to the photo exhibition and made speeches. A Falun Gong spokesperson introduced Falun Gong and talked about the six years of persecution against Falun Gong in China.
The representative from the human rights organization also emphasized and talked about the persecution against Falun Gong. He said that the persecution against Falun Gong is the most serious persecution in China today. He appealed to people to be concerned about the various persecutions of human rights that are still happening in the world. The local media interviewed him at the press conference and conducted a special interview with Falun Gong practitioners.
In the meantime, Falun Gong practitioners also held an anti-torture exhibition, where they simulated a few of the countless methods of torture used against Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Many people came over to find out more, looking at the pictures and asking detailed questions. People who understood the truth enthusiastically signed their names on the petition to German President Köhler, to urge the president to directly raise the issue of the persecution of Falun Gong and to call for its end in his meeting with Chinese leader Hu Jintao in November.
One young lady signed her name with tears in her eyes as she listened to the explanations from the practitioners. She said, "I deplore this kind of human rights persecution. It's really too brutal and must be stopped."
From October 29 to 31, the exhibition was held in a square near a busy street in Gelsenkirchen. October 29 was a Saturday. Falun Gong practitioners gathered in the square very early. Some distributed flyers and talked with passers-by, while others demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises. Another simulation of the torture methods also took place before the press conference. The Falun Gong representative was once again invited to speak at this press conference and appealed for people's support to stop the persecution.
The weather was very fine on these two days. Once people understood the truth, large numbers of them signed the petition against the persecution. Some families were out walking around in the downtown area that day, and each of the family members signed their name.
A fifty-year-old German woman was very interested in Chinese topics because her son was going to be assigned to work in China. When she understood the truth of the persecution against Falun Gong, she was astonished. After signing her name, she told the practitioners, "When I go back home, I must tell my son and have him ask his company how they could enter into economic cooperation with such a country. They must think about it."
Several eight or nine-year-old girls were shocked when they found out about the persecution. They asked the practitioners why this is happening. The three girls all thought about some solutions to stop the persecution: one said she would ask her parents and relatives to read the flyers, and another would ask her teachers and classmates to become involved. A third girl said, "I will copy the flyers, give them to all the people and let everyone know the truth, so the bad men and police dare not beat or arrest people like this." The practitioners were all touched, gave each of them some flyers and told the girls there was no need for them to use their pocket money to pay for copying.
As the exhibition tour continues, Falun Gong practitioners will participate at all the exhibition venues to clarify the truth. They hope that more people of conscience and with a sense of justice will support them, and soon stop the persecution against Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Hu Jintao arrived in Madrid on November 13, 2005 to begin a two-day state visit. Falun Gong practitioners called for an end of the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
The BBC reported on November 13 that this is Hu Jintao's first visit to Spain since he became the Chinese President. On his European trip, Hu has encountered many protests.
Last week during Hu's visits to Britain and Germany, human rights groups such as Amnesty International also held protests. In Madrid, Spain, Hu encountered more than 50 practitioners peacefully demonstrating when he arrived at Prime Minister Zapatero's Office. They held banners that read, "Bring the criminals to justice" and "Stop the persecution".
Several days ago, Falun Gong practitioners filed charges of genocide against a member of the Chinese government in Spain's high court. Petitioners plan to appeal outside the embassy next Monday.
Based on a statement from Amnesty International, tens of thousands of people are imprisoned in China and suffer from abuse and interrogation. Several thousand prisoners are sentenced to death without due legal process.
Amnesty International on Friday held a demonstration to protest China's human rights record during an upcoming state visit by President Hu Jintao.
"So far, the Spanish government seems to ignore the fact that China is one of the countries where the greatest human rights violations occur and where international treaties are violated, with executions, torture and mistreatment, arbitrary arrests, forced evictions, restrictions of freedom of expression and other serious abuses," Esteban Beltran, president of Amnesty's office in Spain, said in a statement.