A Duke researcher continues to fight for the rights of a meditation group in China

Friday, November 07, 2003

Written by Shadee Malakou

When his brother was sent to a Chinese prison and put to hard labor because of his peaceful activities in the Falun Gong meditative group, Duke employee Tony Dang wasn't going to stay quiet.

Since his brother's arrest in 2000, Dang, a research associate in the Department of Pharmacology, has worked on behalf of his brother and other Falun Gong believers, speaking to groups across the state and participating in large demonstrations opposing the Chinese government's crackdown on the followers.

Dang's brother was recently released after two years of prison, but Dang has continued his work.

"Every day there are Falun Gong practitioners in China being tortured," Dang said. "No one in China is able to do anything. Even lawyers who try to help these practitioners are arrested and their license taken away."

Falun Gong is a meditation practice that is believed to improve physical health by increasing spiritual and mental wellbeing. Practiced around the world, it has its critics from many sources, but nowhere has the criticism been as fierce as from the Chinese government. In July 1999, as the movement grew in popularity throughout China, Falun Gong publications, teachings and books were banned, and many practitioners were arrested.

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According to the U.S. State Department's annual human rights report, Falun Gong prisoners are required to work long hours daily in "extrajudicial reeducation-through-labor camps." Others are placed in psychiatric facilities or special deprogramming centers. In addition, human rights groups allege that detainees are often deprived of food and water, are denied bathroom facilities, and are sometimes forbidden to sleep. The State Department report adds that several hundred Falun Gong adherents reportedly have died in detention due to torture, abuse and neglect.

Dang's brother Zhenhua was arrested during a peaceful Falun Gong protest in Beijing in September 2000. Dang said he immediately became concerned. "I began to worry, because I had no idea what could happen to him."

He became involved with a group called the Friends of Falun Gong, a U.S.-based human rights organization founded in 2002 to support the practitioners, which has brought attention to the cause.

Dang has attended each annual rally in Washington, D.C., and has also participated in city-to-city Carolina car tours to educate the public. He was recently featured in an article in a Wilmington (N.C.) Daily News article.

Dang said he had mixed feelings when he finally heard that his brother had been released. "On the one hand, I was happy because at least he left the labor camp. But on the hand, I still felt sad since he had been detained and most likely been tortured for such a long time without any wrongdoings."

"I am proud of Zhenhua," Dang said. "In front of threats and danger, he stood up to speak out the truth."

http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/news/dialogue_newsrelease.asp?id=2971&catid=46&cpg=dialogue_newsrelease.asp