Video: FGM TV News - 10/24/2002

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Script

• 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 October 24, 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 503, with details of 4 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 13 provinces and from the city of Beijing.
• 290 people declared as void all statements they had made 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:

• While in the U.S. China's Party Chairman is Sued for Genocide against Falun Gong

And some of our other stories:

• 1200 practitioners gather in Chicago to protest the head of the Chinese regime
• Practitioners hold a press conference in Mexico City just before the opening of APEC
• A letter smuggled out of china reveals the depth of the brutality of the persecution
• The Chicago Tribune reported recently on efforts to circumvent the great firewall of China
• A cable TV channel in southwestern China broadcasts Falun Gong videos for two hours
• Practitioners attend the International Human Rights Conference in Nuremburg Germany
• Jiang Zemin, Secretary General of China's Communist Party, and the Falun Gong Control Office, otherwise known as the 610 Office, have been sued under United States Human Rights Statutes for the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
• A legal complaint citing allegations of genocide, torture, and freedom of conscience and religion was served Tuesday to security officers guarding Jiang at the Chicago Ritz Carlton Hotel.
• The lawsuit was launched by seven Falun Gong practitioners. They are from Canada, United States, France, Australia, Ireland and Hong Kong.
• The Defendant currently serves as Chairman of the People's Republic of China, as Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and as Chair of the Central Military Committee of the People's Republic of China.
• Despite the defendant's position in China, he is subject to a lawsuit under the Alien Tort Claim Act and the Torture Victim's Protection Act.
• The court's jurisdiction over the defendant is authorized and recognized as a special exception, created by the Convention Against Genocide, that was incorporated into laws governing the treatment of heads of state.
• This Convention excludes from immunity acts of genocide by any and all government officials, including heads of state.
• The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are suing Jiang Zemin for exploiting his official position to commit atrocious human rights violations in direct violation of the values enshrined in the constitutions, international treaties, and laws of all civilized nations today.
• The 610 Office is also a defendant in the lawsuit. It was established as a subdivision of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party by Jiang Zemin on June 7, 2000, and officially set up by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on June 10, as per Jiang's order.
• Acting under the command and control of Jiang Zemin, the office employs and supervises government officials and other public agencies, such as media communications and law enforcement, to carry out a campaign of murder, torture, terrorism, rape, beatings, and genocide against practitioners of Falun Gong and their families in China.
• As such, its actions constitute major abuses and violations of a number of international laws and treaties, placing the legal action against the 610 Office within the provisions of the Alien Tort Claim Act and Torture Victim's Protection Act.
• The lawsuit was filed by Attorney Terri E. Marsh, a Washington DC-based human rights attorney and by local counsel, Frederick Rhine, partner of Chicago-based Gessler, Hughes, Socol, Piers, Resnick and Dym Ltd.
• On Monday, October 21, 2002, the day before the Chinese Communist Party head came to Chicago, about 1200 Falun Gong practitioners from all over the world gathered at the Federal Plaza of Downtown Chicago for large scale exercises and to draw attention to the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
• The activity was one of a series of peaceful protests in Chicago.
• The practitioners came from across the United States, Sweden, UK, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, and so on.
• One practitioner from Singapore had this to say, "I have practiced Falun Gong for over seven years. I benefited so much for Falun Gong. But Falun Gong is being persecuted in China and the persecution is extending to other countries. Even in Singapore, we are not allowed to peacefully appeal and practice outside of Chinese Embassy. I wanted to go to China to appeal for Falun Gong but they refused to give me the visa. So I come to America to appeal to Jiang and ask him to stop the persecution when he visits USA."
• The reporter asked her if she would be paid for protesting to Jiang since other sources have confirmed that the Chinese Consulate provided uniforms, meals and money to those who join the visiting dictator's welcome group.
• The participants were required to sign a letter to give up their rights to protest and express different ideas and a violation would result in a fine of $5000.
• Ms. Gao said that Falun Gong was a free practice starting from the very beginning ten years ago.
• She said it was about people's minds. She said, "I felt this exercise is righteous and good. I also obtained good health from it. Now I want to use my money to do something for it. Today, I flew to the United States from Singapore. I just want to express my opinion. Nobody will pay me a penny. The Chinese Consulate is using money to buy a welcoming group. This is ridiculous. It also showed that nobody really welcomes Jiang."
• The reporter also spoke to Mr. Wang who had just arrived from China.
• He said that when he saw so many practitioners from different countries gathered here, he was deeply moved. He said, "The practitioners in China endure suffering and brutal persecution. The overseas practitioners use their freedom to clarify the truth and appeal to governments. In this opportunity, we gathered together to tell Jiang to stop the persecution. This is our common will."
• On Monday, October 14, Falun Gong practitioners from Canada, Argentina and Mexico held a press conference in the Mexican Congress Building in Mexico City just before the opening of APEC.
• During the press conference they called upon the Mexican government to pay close attention to the development of ongoing slanderous propaganda by the Jiang regime against Falun Gong.
• Before the press conference, two Canadian practitioners who have family members being persecuted in China demonstrated Falun Gong exercises.
• The peaceful, elegant exercises attracted the attention of many Mexican government officials, reporters and NGO representatives.
• Mr. Tarcisio Navarrete Montes de Oca, vice Chairman of Mexico Foreign Affair Committee, hosted the press conference and gave a speech.
• He said that the Mexican government just learned about Falun Gong and the situation of Falun Gong being persecuted in China and overseas, and would certainly pay close attention to the situation and continue to gather further information.
• A representative of a Mexican human rights organization also spoke at the conference.
• Ms. Themis Cortes Lopez said, "We are very concerned with the persecution of Falun Gong by Chinese government. We will help more Mexican people know about Falun Gong and will stand firmly with Falun Gong practitioners to oppose this brutal persecution."
• Practitioners from Canada, Argentina and Mexico gave an introduction of the spreading of Falun Gong around the world and the situation of persecution in China.
• In a letter smuggled out of China a practitioner reveals that she was brutally beaten, raped, and prohibited from sleeping and using the toilet all in a bid to have her stop practicing Falun Gong.
• This happened at the Yongchuan Jail of Chongqing City.
• She said, "The guards have been trying to force me to write letters to the family stating that I have been 'reformed'.
• Because I refused to write such a letter while I was being held in the 'Concentration Unit,' the guards beat me for an entire afternoon."
• She went on to say, "When I was in the 'Concentration Unit,' six guards and six inmates watched me.
• Four of the inmates and one guard escorted me to do labor. In the evening, they would not let me sleep and physically tortured me.
• Another day, I was even beaten unconscious.
• Following that day, two inmates painfully bent my fingers from both sides of my body and a third inmate slapped my face.
• They also used a heavy object to hold down my head.
• They ordered me to copy the 'Letter Criticizing Falun Gong' and I refused, so the guards ordered three inmates to rape me.
• Later, the warden called over an inmate and yelled at him because he did not beat me hard enough."
• The Chicago Tribune reported that recent efforts by the Chinese regime to block access to information on the internet have met with disbelief and outrage among those who are fluent with the technology.
• In September, the Chinese regime blocked its citizens from using the popular search engine Google by exercising its control over the nation's Internet service providers.
• The report said that a number of grass-roots organizations and small companies took up the issue and within three hours created the basics of a program that would enable Chinese Internet users to get access to Google through an unblocked look-alike site.
• They are programmers that believe the internet should not be censored, and so they combat Internet surveillance and censorship by governments around the globe.
• The project which has been called a "pseudoproxy," is fairly simple. The web site calls upon Google's servers and return search results to the user.
• Others are taking the concept and applying it into a more secure and flexible program that can be distributed to computer users around the world to help Chinese users gain access to sites if and when they are blocked.
• The Freenet China project is another development that uses the publishing technology of a broader organization, the Free Internet Project, known as Freenet, to disseminate information about China on the Web.
• People who install Freenet software on their computers can anonymously place information in a global information library, which is then shared by the network of Freenet users.
• Although users of the World Wide Web ordinarily make direct connections with Web sites to obtain information, Freenet users make requests to other Freenet computers, which in turn send the request onward if they do not have the requested document.
• The software is small enough to fit on a floppy disk and it can be copied over and over.
• Visit the website on your screen for further information.
• A cable T.V. channel in a Southwestern City in China broadcast a Falun Gong truth clarification video for approximately two hours.
• It happened around 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 19, 2002.
• The programs entitled "Witness," "Truth Behind the Self-immolation Incident," "36 Western Practitioners Appeal in Beijing" and "Falun Dafa Around the World" Were played.

In Nuremburg Germany

• Practitioners attended the annual German International Human Rights Conference in Nuremburg to draw attention to the persecution of Falun Gong.
• They practiced the exercises outside the meeting room, which moved the representatives attending the Conference. They also collected signatures for a petition, and asked people to write to the German Chancellor and President to urge the head of the PRC to immediately stop the brutal persecution.
• Several practitioners arrived at the venue four hours before the Conference and were able to talk to almost every participant face to face.
• Falun Gong was not on the agenda, but participants were able to pass motions. By using their wisdom practitioners were able to have the opportunity to address the conference. In this way, Zhao Ming, the Trinity College student who was tortured for two years was able to elaborate on the details of his illegal detention.
• After the Conference was adjourned, an elderly man said: "I've never heard of this kind of persecution."
• Reporters videotaped practitioners doing the exercises and the banners and exhibition boards reading, "Urgent call for Media and Governments Worldwide to Stop China's State Terrorism against Falun Gong Practitioners", and, "The world needs Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance".
• Attracted by the grace of the music and the Falun Gong exercises, passers-by stopped to watch for a long time.

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