May 08, 2006
WEEKLY STANDARD: WHY
WANG WENYI WAS SHOUTING
WASHINGTON DC (05-03-2006) -- "Wang Wenyi, the woman whose shouts disrupted the
welcoming ceremony for Chinese president Hu Jintao on the White House lawn on
April 20, is a middle-aged pathologist and a follower of Falun Gong...As a
doctor and a Falun Gong practitioner, Wang had to be incensed by a hair-raising
story coming out of northeast China--of organ harvesting from live Falun Gong
prisoners...
If it is true that imprisoned practitioners of Falun Gong are being murdered for
their organs in China, a remaining question is the scale of the practice. The
number of Falun Gong practitioners in custody is disputed; estimates by the
Chinese dissident community range from 235,000 to one million or more...
Personally, I fear the worst. One reason is that the Chinese authorities have
always handled Falun Gong with a peculiar vehemence...Falun Gong participants
have regularly disappeared, with no arrest record, nothing but an assigned
number...But the main reason I'm pessimistic is the money. Organ transplants are
a profitable business... it is indisputable that the Chinese Communist party has
sanctioned the sale of body parts from executed prisoners. I suspect that the
profits from Chinese organ harvesting dwarf those of the Nazis' soap and
hair-pillow-stuffing enterprises..."
Full Story: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/160ymogj.asp
"APRIL 25, 1999 WAS
ABSOLUTELY NOT THE TRIGGER THAT LED TO THE PERSECUTION"
Clearwisdom.net (commentary by Shu Zhen)--"Seven years ago on April 25, 1999,
10,000 Falun Gong practitioners went to appeal at the State Bureau of Letters
and Calls, not Zhongnanhai. The direct reason for their appeal was the arrest of
45 Falun Gong practitioners in Tianjin City...
The actual background is more far-reaching: since 1996, the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) regime's agencies had banned the publication of Falun Gong books and
organized various local media to slander Falun Gong in a well-coordinated
manner. The police constantly harassed Falun Gong practitioners.
...the 10,000-person appeal on April 25, 1999 was absolutely not the trigger
that led to the persecution of Falun Gong; it was a convenient pretext for the
CCP to publicly persecute Falun Gong...Appeals, even on a large-scale, are
permitted according to the CCP's own laws and regulations...
Seven years have now passed. Countless Falun Gong practitioners have died...However,
the spirit of the great compassion, the great forbearance and perseverance in
righteous belief that the Falun Gong practitioners manifested during the 'April
25 Appeal' has remained..."
Full Story: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2006/4/28/72555.html
CITIES AROUND THE WORLD
MARK HISTORIC APRIL 25
Falun Gong practitioners and supporters held parades, candelight vigils, and
press conferences in cities around the world to mark April 25. The date marks
the 1999 gathering of over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing in
response to state abuses. The petition was one of the most remarkable civil acts
in China's history. Its peaceful legacy has been carried out in Falun Gong
seven-year non-violent resistance to persecution.
Activities were held in Auckland, Bangkok, Brisbane, Brussles, Chicago, Dallas,
Gothenburg, the Hague, Helsinki, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Maccau, Munich,
New York, Ottawa, St. Louis, Tokyo, Toronto and other cities.
MR. ZHANG ANPU TORTURED
TO DEATH - CONFIRMED TOLL AT 2,862
According to sources inside China, on April 30, 2006 Falun Gong practitioner Mr.
Zhang Anpu died as a result of torture suffered in custody. Zhang, 38, from
Tongcheng County in Hubei Province, was arrested on April 6. Sources says Zhang's
body became swollen after he was beaten by prison guards. On April 29, CCP
officials extorted money from his family and released the injured Zhang. He died
of his injuries the next day.
Previously, another Falun Gong practitioner from Tongcheng, Mr. Shu Zusi, was
arrested while farming in the fields. He also died several days after his
arrest, apparently from severe beatings in custody. Zhang's death raises the
known toll of Falun Gong practitioners who have died as a result of the
seven-year persecution to 2,862 deaths. The recent disclosure of systematic
organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners, however, suggests that
the actual death toll is in fact many, many times higher.
COUNCIL OF EUROPE
ASSEMBLY MEMBERS CALL FOR HEARING, ALLOWING INVESTIGATION
Members of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly have called for a public
hearing on organ harvesting in China. The motion, presented by Mr. Goran
Lindblad of Sweden and ten other Assembly members, calls upon Council of Europe
member states to influence China "to allow international rights organisations to
immediately investigate the conditions of all Falun Gong practitioners and other
dissidents held in all labour camps, jails and detention centres."
Full Story: http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc06/EDOC10904.htm