(Minghui.org) My name is Zhang Ming, and I am a lawyer by profession. In my career, the one thing that has made me proudest is defending Falun Gong practitioners.

A friend asked me if I worried about the dangers involved in speaking up for Falun Gong practitioners.

“Of course I do,” I said, “but I have a story about a man named Li that explains why I choose to be fair and uphold justice in court, even when my own safety is at risk.”

Li, a Falun Gong practitioner, came to me one day and asked me to represent another Falun Gong practitioner. Due to a special circumstance, I offered to let him stay with me.

I noticed that he had a large scar running from his chest to his abdomen and asked him what had happened.

I could tell he was a bit embarrassed as he told me about his past. In his early years Li indulged in drugs, stole, fought, and was involved with mobs. The scar was a result of a gang fight. He said that it was a bad injury and that his intestines were exposed when he was cut open.

If there was any money at home, Li would steal it to buy cocaine. He’d been in and out of drug rehab facilities and prisons many times. He didn’t know how many times his mother cried for him.

While he was in prison, he witnessed how the guards relentlessly tortured Falun Gong practitioners. They were so brutal that even a mobster like him could not stomach it. However, he never saw the practitioners fight back or curse at their tormentors.

Li had never seen such kind people. He thought that Falun Gong was extraordinary. Li told his supervisor in the prison that he wanted to practice Falun Gong. To his surprise, his supervisor did not object and encouraged him to learn the practice well.

Li was released early. He became a different person after learning Falun Gong and never again went back to his bad habits.

He changed so much that his wife and son came back to him and practiced Falun Gong with him. They lived a happy, harmonious life. Li said that he finally experienced the joy of living with dignity.

After listening to his story, I could not sleep that night.

Despite all the money and manpower the government put into drug rehab centers, the effects on addicts was very limited. Yet Li, a genuine mobster filled to the brim with bad habits, quit all of them and wanted to become a good person after he practiced Falun Gong. Falun Gong shocked me, deeply.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could not stand this great practice and this group of benevolent people. Regardless of all the practice’s positive influences, the CCP intended to eradicate the practice and persecute its practitioners. No group could ever do such evil.

I decided to speak up for Falun Gong.

Rather than saying that I’m defending Falun Gong practitioners, it is more like Falun Gong is purifying my soul.

I started to look into the CCP’s policies and legal bases for the persecution of Falun Gong. In the end, I realized that no law in China deems Falun Gong a cult.

I know what I am up against is the CCP and the state system. However, I also believe that the highest standards in the practice of law are virtue, conscience, and kindness. The reason I defend Falun Gong practitioners is to show people who is good and who is evil, which this tyrannical power has purposely confused.

Another lawyer once said, “The CCP claims that the persecution is legal, which is a lie used to cover its crime.” Now, defending Falun Gong practitioners means protecting the universal values of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. It is to safeguard justice, which is what practicing law is all about.

Attorney Kong Qingliang said in his defense in court, “I am arguing that the accusation that labels Falun Gong a cult must be exposed as unfounded and be cleared; I defend the universal values of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance; I argue for the innocence of my client.” At the end of his defense, thunderous applause broke out in the courtroom.

I am not alone. In this dark age, there are many other courageous lawyers who stand up to defend practitioners.

I can sense that Falun Gong’s Master is a magnificent person. I am convinced that Falun Gong and its universal principles will spread to every corner of the world.