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(Clearwisdom.net, November 10, 2003) On November 10, 2003, Falun Gong practitioners in Canada who are plaintiffs in the defamation lawsuit against the Chinese newspaper Les Presses Chinoises, gathered together in Montreal to attend the trial that began on November 10 in the Quebec Supreme Court. The chief judge expressed that this case was very important, and through coordination by the chief judge, a large courtroom that can hold more than 200 people was especially booked to receive numerous plaintiffs from Eastern Canada.

Quebec Supreme Court

The case against Les Presses Chinoises for defaming and instigating hatred against Falun Gong has lasted two years. It started November 3, 2001, when the Montreal Chinese weekly newspaper Les Presses Chinoises published an article viciously slandering Falun Gong, the founder of Falun Gong Mr. Li Hongzhi, and Falun Gong practitioners. The newspaper refused to meet with Falun Gong practitioners and continued to publish more defaming articles. It reprinted articles one after another from the state-controlled media in China. After the court issued the safeguard order on December 10, 2001 to prohibit it from publishing defamatory and hateful articles, the newspaper still published a 12-page special issue on February 2, 2002 to defame Falun Gong. (It was sued in a separate case for "Contempt of Court.")

As a lawsuit to stop the spread of hate propaganda, the final trial of this case will directly touch upon the instigator of the persecution against Falun Gong former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, his spread of vicious lies and the persecution of Falun Gong outside China. It will have some impact on a series of lawsuits against the Jiang regime filed in different countries.

How can you help stop the persecution of Falun Gong in China? • Take action! • Sign a petition • Join Friends of Falun Gong • Ask others to subscribe to FDI news.

NEW YORK (FDI) -- 44 more deaths of Falun Gong practitioners were verified during the months of September and October. The deaths, which occurred across 16 Chinese provinces, were mostly attributed to the severe torture practices of Chinese detention centers and labor camps.

Torture techniques usually include severe beatings, electrocution, force-feeding torture, and forced drug injections. Among the deceased was an elderly lady over 70 years old and a young mother.

23 of the deaths occurred in various labor camps, detention centers and police stations, where Falun Gong practitioners are routinely tortured, as officials attempt to force them to disassociate themselves from Falun Gong and make them sign documents denouncing the meditation practice.

In 13 of the cases, the victims died of their injuries shortly after being released from custody. Falun Gong practitioners are often released after particularly severe beatings by Chinese authorities hoping to avoid responsibility for subsequent deaths. In many cases, the victims die within hours of their release.

The majority of the sources reported police stating that they have standing orders to report all deaths of Falun Gong practitioners as "suicides" and cremate the bodies immediately -- often without notifying the family.

Killed for Their Beliefs

The following are a few of the cases verified in September and October.

Ms. Tang Jinmei, female, 71 years old, was a Falun Gong practitioner from Zhangshu City, Jiangxi Province. She was sent to a brainwashing center by the local "6-10 Office" and police bureau, and suffered from mental torture. She was also forced to endure "military training". According to one source, at one point during the torture she vomited a large amount of blood. Ms. Tang died in February 2002.

Ms. Li Shuhua, female, 32 years old, was a Falun Gong practitioner from Yushu City, Jilin Province. She was kidnapped by local police and beaten to death 13 days later. According to an eyewitness, one side of her face was blackened and the other side had been crushed in. Her mother and husband were also thrown into jails for practicing Falun Gong. Now only her father and her two little children remained at home.

Ms. Duan Shiqing, female, 32 years old, was a Falun Gong practitioner and a conductor with the Chongqing Railroad Bureau. On September 16, 2003, she died while being subjected to force-feeding torture in Chengdu City Detention Center.

Ms. Yang Guijun, female, a Falun Gong practitioner from Baiquan Town, Dongliao County, Jilin Province, died in June, 2003, in Jilin Female Prison. Her sister died 7 months before her in the same prison. They were subjected to "Tiger Bench" torture, high beaten with high-voltage electric batons, were hung by hand-cuffs, burned with cigarettes and subjected to a suffocation torture.

Ms. Yuan Hezhen, female, 42 years old, was a practitioner from Hua-nan County, Heilongjiang Province. According to one eyewitness, Ms. Yuan was tortured in a detention center in Beijing until she vomited blood, and had bloody stools. After she got out the detention center, her health was extremely weak. She never recovered and died in July 2003. Her Husband Sun Jihong, was kidnapped by police from the Fengtai Police Bureau a year before when he was on Yuquanying Bridge, Fengtai, Beijing. Four days later, he was tortured to death. Both the husband and wife were tortured to death within one year, leaving behind a daughter of 4 or 5 years old.

Ms. Li Xiufen, female, more than 60 years old, was a retired teacher from Nahe County, Heilongjiang Province. Her family had been persecuted by local police for a long time. Her daughter-in-law was a teacher in a police school, but was tortured to death on December 30, 1999, for practicing Falun Gong. Her son Xu Xiangdong was illegally sentenced to 12 years in jail and tortured severely in Harbin prison. She died on September 9, 2003.

Mr. Tang Xiaocheng, male, 40 years old, was a Falun Gong practitioner from Longfeng Town, Pengzhou City, Sichuan Province. He was sent to Pengzhong Mental Hospital by local police where he suffered severe persecution. He died one month after his release.

The full list of victims' names are: Zhao Yong, Meng Jinchen, Sun Shouqi, Li Rong, Wu Rao, Yang Guijun, Zhu Zhongping, Jiang Genjin, Tang Jinmei, Yu Jixing, Long Zhaohui, Li Qingzhou, He Xuehua, Wang Yi, Zhang Xiaohong, Hou Guimin, Li Weihong, Sui Guangxi, Tang Xiaocheng, Han Qingcai, Xu Jiling, Jiao Fenglan, Lu Xingguo, Lu Xiuying, Dong Huayan, Zheng Libo, Yang Jingyun, Liu Yan, Deng Guojun, Guo Songmei, Yu Wenyou, Tian Baobin, Zhou Jingsen, Duan Shiqiong, Li Dianzhong, Li Shuhua, Li Chuanping, Xu Yufeng, Yuan Hezhen, Wang Hongbin?Liu Tongling, Lu Qiongfang, Li Xiufen, Hua Haiyu.

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NEWS - Nov. 10, 2003
Falun Dafa Information Center, www.faluninfo.net

Background

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa (about), is a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." It is a practice that was taught in private for thousands of years before being made public in 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi. Falun Gong has roots in traditional Chinese culture, but it is distinct and separate from other practices such as the religions of Buddhism and Taoism. Since its introduction in 1992, it quickly spread by word of mouth throughout China, and is now practiced in over 50 countries.

With government estimates of as many as 100 million practicing Falun Gong, China's Communist leader Jiang Zemin outlawed the peaceful practice in July 1999 (report), fearful of anything touching the hearts and minds of more citizens than the Communist Party. Unable to crush the spirit of millions who had experienced improved health and positive life changes from Falun Gong, Jiang's regime has intensified its propaganda campaign to turn public opinion against the practice while quietly imprisoning, torturing and even murdering those who practice it. To that end, Jiang established the "6-10 Office," a Gestapo-like agency spanning from the Central Government to the local governments. The United States Congress has described the "6-10 Office" as an agency charged with "overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong members through organized brainwashing, torture, and murder." (news)

The Falun Dafa Information Center has verified details of 802 deaths (reports / sources) since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. In October 2001, however, Government officials inside China reported that the actual death toll was well over 1,600. Expert sources now estimate that figure to be much higher. Hundreds of thousands have been detained, with more than 100,000 being sentenced to forced labor camps, typically without trial.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER
Contacts: Gail Rachlin (+1 917-501-4441), Levi Browde (+1 914-720-0963), Erping Zhang (+1 646-533-6147), or Feng Yuan (+1 917-941-1097).
Fax: 646-792-3916 Email: , Website: http://www.faluninfo.net/

(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, the U.S. cosmetics company Mary Kay Inc, based in Dallas, drew international attention for their Shenzhen China branch requiring their employees to sign a declaration to "not practice Falun Gong or promote Falun Gong." This is a clear violation of human rights. After reading several Clearwisdom articles, we felt compelled to bring up several court precedents of U.S. companies being held accountable for human rights violations committed abroad.

Since July 1999, former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, the "human rights scoundrel" as termed by Amnesty International, has placed the persecution of Falun Gong as the foremost priority of the country. He established the "610 Office" to carry out his policy to "destroy their reputations, bankrupt them financially, and eradicate them physically." His policies have forcefully permeated every segment of society and everyone's daily life with the goal of trying to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their belief in "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance."

According to conservative estimates, the persecution by the Jiang regime and the "610 Office" has deprived 70-100 million Chinese Falun Gong practitioners of their basic rights. The practitioners have been stripped off all of their freedom of speech and belief, and they have been forbidden to appeal to higher authorities as stipulated by law. As of November 5, 2003, there have been 816 confirmed cases of Falun Gong practitioners dying as a result of persecution. Clearwisdom is receiving reports of Falun Gong practitioners dying as a result of the persecution in China almost on a daily basis.

Because every facet of life is linked to the persecution of Falun Gong, including students' entrance exams, workers' employment, and everyone's housing, the family members of the millions of Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to having a life of unstable income and even their families torn apart. Some have lost their family members forever.

Planning for overseas investment and business development requires a deep understanding of the local political, economic, cultural, social and demographic situation -- all of which make up the conditions for investment. Here we will share some information on this topic with our friends in the U.S. business community. We hope that while you are investigating business opportunities, you will fully taken into account the rampant human rights abuses happening in Chinese society, so that you will not become unwitting accomplices in such a persecution.

The prospect for financial gain is certainly important, but the moral reputation of the investor and the people they are investing in, as well as the sense of social conscience, should be carefully considered from a legal and practical perspective.

A recent case on point is Doe. v. Unocal. Plaintiffs in this case sought redress for the human rights abuses associated with the Unocal pipeline project in Burma. The plaintiffs are Burmese peasants who suffered a variety of egregious violations at the hands of Burmese army units that were securing the pipeline route.

Defendants include Unocal, a U.S. company and two of Unocal's top executives.

Unocal was building offshore drilling stations to extract natural gas resources from the Andaman Sea, and a port and pipeline for transport of the gas through the Tenasserim region of Burma to Thailand. In pursuit of this gas pipeline project, defendants, through Burmese military, intelligence and/or police forces, have used force and intimidation to relocate whole villages, forced the farmers living in the area of the proposed pipeline to provide their labor, and stolen the farmers' property. Defendants' conduct violates state and federal law, and customary international law, including the prohibitions against forced labor and forced relocation, rape and other torture, and other human rights violations.

In a landmark decision in 1997, a U.S. federal district court in Los Angeles agreed to hear Doe v. Unocal. The Court concluded that corporations and their executive officers can be held legally responsible under the Alien Tort Claims Act for violations of international human rights norms in foreign countries, and that U.S. courts have the authority to adjudicate such claims.

"Unocal knew that the military had a record of committing human rights abuses; that the Project hired the military to provide security for the Project, a military that forced villagers to work and entire villages to relocate for the benefit of the Project; that the military, while forcing villagers to work and relocate, committed numerous acts of violence; and that Unocal knew or should have known that the military did commit, was committing and would continue to commit these tortuous acts."

June 11, 2002 marked another precedent-setting day in the case against Unocal. The Superior Court of California, County Of Los Angeles, made a decision against Unocal, which made this case the first in U.S. history in which a corporation stood trial for human rights abuses committed abroad. The court also decided that it would apply California law.

Another similar case is Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum (Shell).

Plaintiffs brought this lawsuit under the Alien Tort Claims Act for human rights abuses in Nigeria and also alleged violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

The particular abuses at issue are the November 10, 1995 hangings of Ken Saro-Wiwa and John Kpuinen, two leaders of MOSOP (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People), the torture and detention of Owens Wiwa, and the shooting of a woman who was peacefully protesting the bulldozing of her crops in preparation for a Shell pipeline by Nigerian troops called in by Shell. These abuses were intended to suppress the Ogoni people's peaceful opposition to defendants' long history of environmental damage and human rights abuses in the Ogoni region.

In a huge victory for the plaintiffs, the Court of Appeals on September 15, 2000, concluded that the United States is a proper forum. The Court also upheld the district court's ruling that jurisdiction over the defendants was proper and remanded the case back to the district court to rule on defendants' other objections to the suit.

In another major victory for the plaintiffs, on February 28, 2002, the court found that the plaintiffs' allegations met the requirements for claims under the Alien Tort Claims Act, in that the actions of Royal Dutch/Shell and Anderson constituted participation in crimes against humanity, torture, summary execution, arbitrary detention, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, and other violations of international law. The court also found that Anderson could be sued under the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows victims of torture to sue the perpetrators in federal court. Finally, the court found that the plaintiffs' RICO claims could proceed, because Royal Dutch/Shell's actions in concert with the Nigerian military satisfied the racketeering requirements of the act, and because they engaged in these acts in part to facilitate the export of cheap oil to the United States. The court ruled that none of the defendants' other defenses were applicable, thus bringing the plaintiffs one important step closer to redress for the violations they suffered. The plaintiffs are now entitled to gather evidence by interviewing Anderson and other Royal Dutch/Shell employees, and by reviewing their documents.

U.S. companies doing business in foreign countries are subject to U.S. law. FCPA is a good illustration of the responsibility of a U.S. company to be in compliance with U.S. law.

As a result of SEC investigations in the mid-1970s, over 400 U.S. companies admitted making questionable or illegal payments in excess of $300 million to foreign government officials, politicians, and political parties. The abuses ran the gamut from bribery of high foreign officials to secure some type of favorable action by a foreign government to so-called facilitating payments that allegedly were made to ensure that government functionaries discharged certain ministerial or clerical duties. Congress enacted the FCPA to bring a halt to the bribery of foreign officials and to restore public confidence in the integrity of the American business system.

The FCPA was intended to have and has had an enormous impact on the way American firms do business. Several firms that paid bribes to foreign officials have been the subject of criminal and civil enforcement actions, resulting in large fines and suspension and debarment from federal procurement contracting, and their employees and officers have gone to jail. To avoid such consequences, many firms have implemented detailed compliance programs intended to prevent and to detect any improper payments by employees and agents.

In 1988, the Congress directed the Executive Branch to commence negotiations in the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to obtain the agreement of the United States' major trading partners to enact legislation similar to the FCPA. In 1997, almost ten years later, the United States and thirty-three other countries signed the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. The United States ratified this Convention and enacted implementing legislation in 1998.

The anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA make it unlawful for a U.S. person, and certain foreign issuers of securities, to make a corrupt payment to a foreign official for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business for or with, or directing business to, any person. Since 1998, they also apply to foreign firms and persons who take any act in furtherance of such a corrupt payment while in the United States.

The FCPA also requires companies whose securities are listed in the United States to meet its accounting provisions. See 15 U.S.C. § 78m. These accounting provisions, which were designed to operate in tandem with the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA, require corporations covered by the provisions to make and keep books and records that accurately and fairly reflect the transactions of the corporation and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls.

(Clearwisdom.net)

On September 10, Yingzhou District Court in Fuyang City, Anhui Province held an illegal trial of 10 Dafa practitioners including Xie Jiaqi, Liu Jie, Li Yuanwei, Li Dongmei, Wei Guoliang, Shi Guoyan, Shi Hongxiu, Shang Xueying, Chen Baoren, and Liu Shexia. Their sentences range from 3 to 7 years.

These 10 practitioners, along with other practitioners, hung numerous Dafa banners and posted a lot of flyers in Xihu Town and vicinity on February 11, 2002 (the eve of Chinese New Year). Their act shocked the evil and promoted righteousness.

During the trial, fully armed police filled both inside and outside of the courtroom. The "610 Office" specifically arranged news media to come interview, attempting to cook up more news to slander and frame Dafa. However, the ten practitioners were very steadfast and righteous in the courtroom. They validated Dafa by shouting in unison "Falun Dafa is great! Falun Dafa is a righteous way! Restore the reputation of our Teacher! What attacks good must be evil!" They effectively restrained and eliminated the evil, also inspiring the family members and fellow practitioners who were present. At the same time, their righteous action caused the plot to cook up a slanderous video to be aborted.

2003-10-30

(Clearwisdom.net) Mid January 2001, to assure that Falun Dafa practitioners would not travel to Beijing, the Shuangcheng City officials arrested all known Falun Dafa practitioners. During that time more than 70 people were sent to the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp, while others were either detained in detention centers or sent to brainwashing centers that were set up in different districts.

Practitioner Ms Wei Zongying was detained for 15 days because she traveled to Beijing to appeal. (She was released only after paying 1,000 Yuan. [Chinese currency, the monthly salary for an average Chinese urban worker is about 500 Yuan]) This time she was taken to the brainwashing class held at Shuangcheng Township. Her family traveled there and demanded her release. The Party Secretary of the township Yu Zhanqi and the Party Secretary of the "610 Office" [An agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems] Liu Yuhua saw this as a golden opportunity to enrich themselves. They not only tried to extort 5,000 Yuan, but also demanded that the practitioner write the so called "Guarantee Statement" [A statement to declare that he or she is remorseful for practicing Falun Gong and guarantees not to practice Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners]. They said that if their demands were not met no one would be released.

During the detention, no beds or blankets were provided. The practitioners had to sleep on the cement floor. The policemen also replaced the wooden door with an iron mesh gate and the practitioners were forced to sleep facing the gate. Everyone was forced to sleep in the drafty area, including the elderly people. Everyday the practitioners were provided little sustenance and kept hungry on purpose. The guards said, "It is much better here than at the detention center." During the detention practitioners were frequently forced to stand upright for a long time as punishment and they had to take their shoes off. At times they had to remain standing until 11 o'clock in the evening. Sometimes, when these guards were drunk they asked every practitioner if he or she would continue to practice Falun Gong. If the answer was affirmative, the practitioners would be taken to the corridor and physically abused. Some practitioners' teeth broke due to the beatings. Some guards tied practitioners to a wooden bench for the entire cold winter night, in the unheated building.

There were three sisters, with the youngest a toddler. The guards made steadfast male and female Falun Dafa practitioners stay in the same room. All males and females had to share one toilet without a lid. The guards repeatedly abused them verbally. Some perverted guard's stood outside the iron gate to watch female practitioners use the bathroom.

Female practitioner Ms Wang Benying was of old age. She became blind because of the long detention. The guards said, "There are no vegetables and the food is not nutritious, thus people will become blind. Hurry up and write a 'Guarantee Statement'. Only if you state that you give up with Falun Gong will you be released." Ms Wang Benying's family wasted no effort to get her released for medical treatment, but without positive results. The guards refused to release her. One of the guards named Wang Peng said, "We will not be held accountable if someone leaves the room on her last breath and died outside the door."

Ms Zhang Liyan went on a hunger strike to protest the illegal detention. During force-feeding, the guards beat and stomped on her. She immediately lost her conscience. Another female practitioner, Ms Dong Liying, lost her mind as a result of the torture.

At the end of March, the Shuangcheng City "610 Office" set up another brainwashing center. Ms Wei Zhongying was once again sent there. Tight security was enforced. The security force consisted of employees from the public security bureau, procuratorial organs and people's courts. All male guards carried guns. Falun Dafa practitioners were required to attend military training, which is another kind of corporal punishment. They had to watch videos that slander Falun Dafa. Every day they were forced to write an essay with respect to the so-called "experience on what they had learned." In the evening when China's Central Television broadcasted lies and slandered Falun Dafa, practitioners were forced to watch and write down their thoughts. If they refused they were not allowed to go to bed. The guards predetermined the subject Wei's family could discuss, or they were not allowed to visit Wei Zhongying. Ms Zhao Shudi's mother did not adhere to the guards wishes, thus they called the armed policemen. They dragged her by her hair out of the visiting room.

In the brainwashing center, they used methods that would wear practitioners mentally and physically down, in the hope that they would write the "Guarantee Statement." Before releasing the practitioner, the guards extorted money.

(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Xiaorong in Xingyang City went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in May 2000. She was arrested there and later picked up and taken back to Xingyang by her local policemen. Upon arriving in Xingyang, she was immediately put into Sanlizhuang Detention Center, where she suffered from mal-treatment for a month. Later she was transferred to a building where she was detained for another 8 months.

On July 5, 2000, a gang of policemen suddenly burst into the book shop run by Zhang Xiaorong's husband Li Qinjun and asked him: "Are you still practicing Falun Gong?" "Yes," answered Li. So they forced him to where his wife and another 6 practitioners were detained, and put him under detention for 8 months too. The other practitioners are Ms. Shi Guihua, Mr. Zhou Huicong, Mr. Zhou Baojun, Ms. Wang Junying and Ms. Han Xiuzhi. Li's son had to take turns staying in different relatives' homes during that period.

During November and December of 2000, Zhang Xiaorong's 70-year-old father had to take care of the bookshop to maintain the business. Suddenly a gang of policemen came and claimed that there were Falun Gong materials in the bookshop. They drove the old man out and sealed the bookshop.

In February 2001, Li Qinjun and Zhang Xiaorong were sent for brainwashing in the party's training school. They were held there for over 4 months. Every day they were forced to take brainwashing classes. They were not allowed to go home to take care of their business and children.

After the couple was set free, they asked the police department to return the confiscated bookshop. They found that hundreds of Yuan were lost from the shop, and books and stationery items were stolen too. The rest of the books, which were stored in a school, were now out of date. The school asked for a huge storage fee to return the books, but the couple could not afford it.

Other cases: Dafa practitioner Ms. Cui Shuling was sentenced for 4 years because she told people the truth of Falun Gong. She was sent to Xinxiang Women's Prison. Her husband passed away long ago, and her children are in college and high school respectively. Her brothers and sisters tried to reason with the police to improve her situation, but they turned a deaf ear to their requests.

Dafa practitioners Ms. Shi Guihua and Mr. Zhou Conghui had their only bank deposit of over 2,000 Yuan stolen by police. During their labor camp period, their thousands of kilograms of wheat became mildewed. They were deprived of the right to see their children, and were frequently tortured.

Dafa practitioners Mr. Zhou Baojun and Ms. Wang Junying were put under house arrest for 8 months, and police sealed off their small shop.

Dafa practitioner Mr. Wei Chengde was detained in Sanlizhuang Detention Center for over a year. His family was fined over 10,000 Yuan (the monthly income for an average worker in China is roughly 500 Yuan) and his son was sent to labor camp for one year too.

Dafa practitioner Ms. Li Yunzhen and her son were forced to leave their positions in the court of the city.

The people responsible for persecution:

Zhang Zhian, former secretary of Political & Legal Committee of Xingyang: 86-371-4667816(W), 86-371-4602180(H), 86-13607651076(C);

Wang Shuangquan, secretary of Political & Legal Committee of Xingyang: 86-13703953999;

Feng Songmao, head of "610 Office": 86-13700857393(C);

Zheng Feng, head of "610 Office": 86-13803991788;

Yi Guozhu, former head of police department: 86-371-4664828(W), 86-371-2186786(H), 86-13903851888(C).

Zhang Yuzhou, head of police department: 86-371-4663171(W), 86-371-5971966(H), 86-13603863666(C).

Du Jun, Yuan Tianzeng and Qin Yueqi: vice heads of police department.

Zhang Songling, head of security branch of the police department: 86-371-4665748(W), 86-371-4695840(H), 86-13703996253(C).

Zhang Shaodong, vice head of security branch: 86-13703854119(C).

Falun Dafa Day

November 9, 2003

By the Mayor of Ballylinan and District, County Laois, Ireland

WHEREAS, this day, the members of Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, are holding their annual experience sharing conference; and,

WHEREAS, Falun Dafa, an advanced qigong system with an ancient Chinese heritage, offers self-refinement of both mind and body; and,

Whereas, Falun Dafa started in China in 1992, and its activities of exercises and practices are based on the universal quality of Zhen-Shan-Ren, which means truth-compassion-forbearance; and,

Whereas, Falun Dafa is designed to improve their physical condition, cleanse their mind, uplift their moral standards.

Now, therefore, I, mayor of Ballylinan and district county Laois Ireland, do hereby declare November 9th 2003 as Falun Dafa day.

Josephine Leahy
Mayor
Ballylinan and District

[signed]

Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200311/16103.html

Since July 1999, for more than four years, Jiang Zemin and his accomplices have engaged in the persecution of Falun Gong. Since last March, the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) established a European branch in Ulm, Germany. The following is an interview with the person in charge, Martin Klitzler.

Reporter: "Mr. Klitzler, Could you talk about the European branch of WOIPFG?"

K: "Yes, I would like to explain why the European branch of WOIPFG was set up in Germany. This issue may help people to better understand the nature of this organization.

"We all know that Germany committed unthinkable crimes of genocide more than a half century ago. German people, even those of my generation who have not personally experienced the genocide, have not forgotten these incidents. The well-known trial of war crimes in the wake of World War II however took place in Nuremberg, Germany. Today, the City Government of Nuremberg has the only human rights office established by the state. One of its purposes is to remind people of the tragedy that took place in Germany and that the pursuit of war criminals from World War II still is going on. I think that the German people have a special obligation to oppose, and remind people of, any crimes incorporating genocide. The reason for this is that no matter where it takes place, it is antagonistic to universal human values and peace that all human beings should abide by, as well as being harmful to the entire human race.

"Right now, genocide is taking place in China--Jiang Zemin's persecution of Falun Gong. One of the purposes of establishing the European branch of the WOIPFG in Germany is to let people know that history will not be forgotten and to urge people to stop history from repeating itself."

Reporter: "Someone once said that the Jewish people, who were murdered by the Nazis, far outnumber Falun Gong practitioners who have been murdered and therefore the persecution of Falun Gong does not count as genocide. What is your view on this?"

K: "A person who says this does not understand the nature of the persecution against Falun Gong. In terms of numbers posted on Falun Gong website's, nearly 800 Falun Gong practitioners have died as a result of the persecution, at least 6,000 people have been sentenced [to jail], more than one hundred thousand people have been sentenced to labor camps, thousands have been placed into mental institutions and forced to take medication that destroys the central nervous system. Indeed, in terms of the number of deaths, the persecution of Falun Gong is by no way comparable to that of the Jewish people. However, I would like to take this opportunity to make five points about genocide.

"Firstly, Hitler took twelve years to reach that scale of persecution. Yet, the persecution of Falun Gong began only four years ago and it has spread to many countries worldwide.

"Secondly, more than half a century ago, people in Germany and other countries could not come across any information about the persecution of the Jewish people. As a result, Hitler could implement his plan without obstruction. However, not long after the persecution of Falun Gong, information spread out of China. Since 1999, the decisions and pleas of the international community have put a great deal of pressure on Jiang Zemin's government. In this globalized world, China cannot do anything except consider the international communities reaction. Jiang Zemin and his accomplices must have some misgivings.

"Thirdly, during World War II, Hitler did not force the Jewish people to give up their belief but sent them directly to the gas chamber. Jiang Zemin however, gave the order to use inhumane torture and measures to destroy one's spirit in order to press Falun Gong practitioners to write testimonies to give up their beliefs. According to the United Nations' definition of genocide, genocide applies not only to the elimination of the physical body, but also to the severe physical and spiritual damage of a specific group. This applies to [Jiang Zemin's] persecution of Falun Gong.

"Fourthly, in terms of the method of persecution, Jiang Zemin has used the same method as Hitler. That is, to generate extensive rumors, or to exert enormous pressure on victims. Jiang Zemin has also spread rumors worldwide to mislead the international society.

"And finally, Hitler established the Gestapo. Jiang Zemin established the '610 Office'. Both were/are above the law. Hitler used them to pave the way for the murder of Jewish people, while Jiang Zemin forced people to give up their beliefs. However, the two share the same purpose, which is to eliminate a specific group."

Reporter: "Speaking of the '610 Office', when Luo Gan visited four European countries in early September, Falun Gong practitioners filed lawsuits in those four countries, accusing Luo Gan of committing the crimes of torture and genocide. In your view, what are the prospects of these lawsuits?"

K: "At present, in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, Falun Gong practitioners have filed or are preparing to file lawsuits against Chinese officials responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong. Judging from our information, a strong front has been formed, and a US court has made some decisions that are favorable to Falun Gong. For example, charges against the following persons, due to persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, have been sustained: Zhao Zhifei, deputy director of Hubei provincial public security, Beijing municipal party secretary Liu Qi, and Liaoning's deputy governor Xia Deren. This shows that the international community has begun to pay more and more attention to crimes against humanity that defy basic human rights and liberty.

"Through the lawsuit against Luo Gan, at the very least the leaders and citizens of those four countries have learned what kind of person he is. We have also extensively unveiled the secret nature of the '610 Office' in Europe for the first time."

Reporter: "What is your personal view of the significance of the lawsuits against Chinese officials?"

K: "From the standpoint of the WOIPFG, the lawsuits have brought condemnation of the persecution from a moral level to a legal level. This is exactly the purpose of this organization. Just like World War II war criminals, even decades after their crimes, they still have to face trial in court if apprehended. This is international justice. We don't think that we have to wait that long. This determination to legally deal with all of these crimes will shock the perpetrators. It would be best if we could stop their actions and let people in China as well as in other countries know about the persecution of Falun Gong by Jiang and his accomplices that are serious criminal acts."

(Clearwisdom.net) On October the 25, 2003, Wu Guanzheng, a high-ranking Chinese official who is directly involved in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Shandong Province, visited Cyprus. Persecuted Falun Gong practitioners and their family members also went to Cyprus at this time. Falun Gong practitioners wrote the following letter to the Cypriot Government, media and citizens:

Wu is one of the major accomplices in the persecution of Falun Gong

Wu Guanzheng is one of the Standing Members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and also Secretary of the Party Committee. Wu is one of Jiang Zemin's major accomplices directing the persecution against Falun Gong, which has caused at least 805 Falun Gong practitioners to be tortured to death. Wu personally directs the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in Shandong Province, where 93 practitioners have been persecuted to death.

Since the Jiang regime launched the persecution, over 100,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been sent to labor camps without trial; over 1,000 practitioners have been sent to psychiatric hospitals where they have been subjected to torture; practitioners have been detained, harassed, forced into joblessness or expelled from university; female practitioners have been sent to labor camps where they have been subjected to unimaginable ill treatment, rape and forced abortion.

Some example of Serious Human Rights Violations

Mr. Zou Songtao was from Shandong province and died in the persecution orchestrated by Wu. Mr Zou was illegally detained many times before being sent to a labor camp for three years without trial. He was repeatedly tortured and denied visits from his wife. He died on November 4, 2000 and his body was immediately cremated. The family's request for a legal document on Songtao's unexpected death was turned down.

Professor Zhang Kunlun is a Canadian citizen and a Professor of Art. Because he practices Falun Gong, he was detained 3 times while working in China and on November 14, 2000 he was sentenced to 3 years in a forced labor camp without trial. Due to international help, he was released on January 10, 2001. During his incarceration, Professor Zhang was beaten, kicked, and shocked with electric batons by police. His arms, legs, and other areas were burnt from the intense electricity. The beatings badly injured his left leg, leaving him unable to walk properly for three whole months. The police also used intense mental torture against him, which almost made him collapse.

Jane Dai, the Wife of a Persecuted Practitioner has Arrived in Cyprus

Mr. Chen Chengyong, one of the victims who died from this persecution, was detained and tortured to death in China. His 40-year-old wife Jane Dai arrived in Cyprus during Wu's visit to protest against the Chinese government's torture and murder of her husband, as well as the persecution of countless innocent Falun Gong practitioners. Though she does not come from Shandong Province, she said that she was willing to stand up for justice for all Falun Gong practitioners in China who are suffering in a similar way to her husband.

Why is the Chinese government fearful of Falun Gong?

Falun Gong consists of five sets of gentle exercises, helps people to regain their physical and mental health, and elevates the traditional values of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." There are 100 million people in about sixty countries practicing Falun Gong.

Intolerant of any independent group, the Jiang regime started to take notice of Falun Gong when the number of Falun Gong practitioners in China increased to about 100 million. In 1996, Jiang's regime started to harass Falun Gong practitioners. It banned Falun Gong in July 1999 and consequently launched a large-scale persecution of Falun Gong.

Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200311/15983.html

(Clearwisdom.net) On Sunday November 9, 2003, the 2003 Ireland Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference was held in Dublin. The conference was attended by local practitioners, as well as practitioners from England, Scotland, Sweden and Belgium. The number of attendees was around 50. In a small lecture theatre, this created an intimate, yet solemn and dignified atmosphere. The conference opened with the reading of a proclamation from the Mayor of County Laois, who declared November 9 as Falun Dafa Day for the first time in Ireland.

Many practitioners shared their experiences in Falun Dafa cultivation and in cultivating during the Fa-rectification period. The practitioners who spoke at the conference had been practicing Falun Gong for various lengths of time--from six months to several years. The articles demonstrated different aspects of what it means to follow a righteous path in cultivation in the Fa-rectification period, as practitioners shared their experiences of doing well the three things Master has asked of us. The practitioners at the conference shared a similar feeling in their hearts: a feeling of deepest gratitude towards the boundless compassion and mercy of their Teacher, and the solemn wish to continue to do well what Dafa disciples should do in this critical period of time. The conference ended with all practitioners rising to sing "Falun Dafa Hao" (Falun Dafa is Great) together.

Ireland Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference

Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200311/16102.html

(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioners' excellent performance at the Italian Traditional Culture Festival Parade last month in San Francisco won high praise and left a deep impression on the sponsor. For the annual San Francisco Veteran's Festival Parade, the practitioners received a special invitation from the sponsor to participate in the parade.

Falun Dafa procession	Demonstrating the Falun Dafa exercises on the float
Young Dafa practitioners on the float	Fan dance

On November 9, 2003, the weather forecast said that there would be rain. We participated in this parade to let people learn about Falun Dafa. If it rained, there would not be many people watching. The practitioners realized that everything comes for the Fa. With their righteous thoughts, the forecasted rain became sunshine.

Wherever Falun Gong practitioners' procession marched, the spectators gave them great applause. Some people pointed at the banner with the words "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" in English, and applauded. Some people made a victory hand gesture. A lady accepted the Dafa truth-clarifying flyer and read the content, and then asked, "Which country's government is so brutal? What can I do for you?" After talking with practitioners, she then decided that she would write to her congressional representatives.

Practitioners continuously demonstrated the exercises on the float, and introduced Falun Dafa to people lining the street. As most people participating in today's parade were veterans, Falun Gong practitioners' procession was bright and eye-catching.

In today's world, unceasing disputes and terrorism prevail; people need Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Just as the sponsor said in the previous parade, "You are promoting the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and this principle should be deeply planted in each person's heart. Your peaceful sitting meditation is a must for every one of us living in a stressful life."

(Clearwisdom.net) On November 8, 2003, Falun Dafa practitioners from Texas joined the Hays County Veteran's Festival parade. Among the processions, Falun Dafa practitioners' bright and beautiful float was especially eye-catching. The big red banner imprinted with the words "Falun Dafa" drew people's attention from afar. One after another, spectators accepted practitioners' truth-clarifying materials. The parade organizers especially came over to shake hands with practitioners, praised the beauty of our float and expressed their appreciation for our participation.

(Clearwisdom.net) During activities held a while ago to rescue our persecuted family members, many people told us that they would like to learn the Falun Gong exercises. To satisfy people's request, on the evening of November 6, we held a free Falun Gong workshop on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh.

During the more than two-hour workshop, the students who came to learn listened attentively to our introduction of Falun Gong and the persecution, and learned the five sets of exercises. After the workshop, several students signed a petition to express their support of Falun Gong.

A reporter and a photographer from the university newspaper came.

The workshop helped us realize that our truth-clarifying activities were still not broad and thorough enough, because none of the students who came to learn the exercises said that they had heard of the persecution of Falun Gong before. Originally, we thought through many truth-clarifying activities and the media's repeated reports, that most Pittsburgh residents would have already known about the persecution in China. Now it seems that there are still many people waiting for us to tell them the facts about the persecution.

(Clearwisdom.net) On Saturday November 1, 2003, practitioners in Scotland attended the Annual Conference of the Modern Studies Association (M.S.A.) at a university near Glasgow. This is the second year that practitioners have been invited, after last year's successful activity. The M.S.A holds a particular interest in inviting Falun Gong because many secondary school teachers in Scotland teach China Studies as part of the Modern Studies curriculum, so the persecution of Falun Gong in China is of great interest to both teachers and pupils.

Practitioners set up a stall in the lobby area with leaflets, magazines, videos and Video-CDs, all offering information about the brutal and systematic persecution of innocent and peaceful practitioners in China. Many people signed a petition to rescue the practitioners who are related to UK residents, but are imprisoned in Chinese prisons and labor camps because they continue to practice Falun Gong and live by the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance.

As teachers came out of the conference for a break, they bustled around the Falun Gong table, eager to take materials for use in their classes. Some teachers had been at last year's M.S.A conference and had taken materials from practitioners. They remarked that they had found the information very interesting and useful. Practitioners also offered to go to schools to give a presentation on the persecution. Many teachers were enthusiastic about this and gave their contact details. The organizer heartily thanked practitioners for attending the event.

Following the M.S.A conference last year, one practitioner in Scotland went to a secondary school near Edinburgh and gave a presentation about Falun Gong to a class of thirty pupils around fourteen years old. She showed a video and although she had warned the children that some footage of the torture victims was quite shocking, the children were nonetheless taken aback at the severity of the treatment meted out to practitioners in China. In the question and answer session after the video, the children made poignant remarks and were very angry at the injustice of this persecution. Three of the children were particularly interested in the subject as they were entering a human rights competition, which entailed putting together the front page of a newspaper on the topic of human rights. They decided to use the persecution of Falun Gong as their focus.

After the M.S.A event, practitioners went to Glasgow City center to hand out leaflets about the persecution. Practitioners also brought along a couple of petitions and many people signed them. Overall, it was a very successful day.

Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200311/15982.html

(Clearwisdom.net) Currently the trend of Fa-rectification is overwhelming. At this historical moment, the Dafa practitioners producing truth-clarification materials carry a heavy responsibility. We need to keep a good flow of communication inside China and to/from abroad. We should make sure that fellow practitioners in China can read Teacher's new articles as soon as possible and that Minghui Weekly and other messages can be distributed on schedule. It is important that truth-clarifying materials and VCD's are produced in a timely manner. Our wisdom from Dafa cultivation shall overcome any difficulty that tries to block our assisting Teacher and stepping through Fa-rectification. The following discusses how our Dafa truth materials sites can maintain normal operations under Teacher's benevolent care.

There have been articles by fellow practitioners on the Dafa websites talking about security and safety of truth-clarifying materials sites. Some local area's sites had tight security means with vertical connection only, but they still were destroyed by the evil. Why? It seems to me that the main reason was that they had not calmed their minds to study the Fa. During these 4 years, the evil persecution of Falun Gong has been relentless. "As a Dafa disciple, no matter what the situation or what the circumstances, you have to study the Fa, and you can't neglect your own assimilation and improvement; you can't forget to study the Fa. If you don't study the Fa well, you won't be able to do Dafa work well." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston") "Under any circumstance, in any period, and no matter how busy you are with your work, you can't stray from your Fa-study, as this is what fundamentally ensures that you will improve and reach Consummation. You can't do Dafa work without studying the Fa, or it would be an everyday person doing Dafa work. It has to be Dafa disciples who do Dafa work--this is the requirement for you." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference") We take seriously the lessons learned from other sites which were destroyed and have put Fa-study as the first priority. Besides a few times of group Fa-study per week, every individual squeezes in time between daily tasks to expedite reading the Fa each day. We try our best not to skip the weekly and daily Fa-study. Of course sometimes some practitioners seemed to have interference and became slack in studying the Fa. Then other practitioners would quickly remind him/her to correct the situation.

Dafa work at a materials site can be very busy. For example, when there is a brand-new Fa-lecture by Teacher, we'll busily work from dawn to midnight for timely distribution to fellow practitioners (known to us). At times like this, we turn on the cassette player and listen to Teacher's 9-day lectures while working. Some practitioners would continue to read one chapter of Zhuan Falun after sending forth righteous thoughts at midnight. Then we wake up at 4:30 a.m. for the daily morning exercise. Although we are very busy, we feel very fulfilled because Dafa nurtures us and the Fa has permeated each and every cell of our bodies.

Good mutual cooperation is crucial to doing Dafa work. Several of us not only wholeheartedly do our best for our individual responsibilities but also help the overall work. "...together there's a form, and separated there are particles." (Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference) When a new lecture or Weekly comes, after careful mass duplication by the copy team, others would drop their non-urgent work and come to help bind those pages into pamphlets. Thus, working and cooperating excellently as a whole, we meet the schedule and deliver the new lecture and Weekly to the hands of fellow practitioners every time.

We have a small number of practitioners working at our materials site but, with wisdom cultivated from Dafa, we are able to perform all the Dafa work very well. The practitioner burning VCD's also handles the screen printing of banners. With her proficiency in computers, a young female practitioner downloads Dafa information to make the master copy of the truth-clarifying VCD as well as frequently traveling out of town to help fix computer problems for other sites. Another practitioner is responsible for uploading, downloading, and writing articles as well as overall coordination of the tasks. For a long time, we have been persistent in studying the Fa, doing Dafa work with mutual cooperation individually and as a whole, observing Teacher's teaching that "The next person's things are your things,¹ and your things are his things." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference") With this, we are able to do the tasks at the truth materials site in an orderly manner.

Of course we have had our disputes. One time two practitioners were disagreeing fiercely. The next practitioner quickly pointed out to them that they should judge things according to the Fa by searching inward and not just argue without any significant meaning. Those two cooled down and calmed their minds to study the Fa. Then they both saw their own attachment and thus sincerely opened their hearts to each other, eliminating the blocks. Another time, while writing an article, I did not maintain a proper tone but unintentionally had a showoff state of mind. Seeing that, a fellow practitioner called to my attention the need to improve and correct my shortcoming.

Currently the four of us at our site are too busy to catch up with the larger demand for truth-clarifying materials, so we added two more practitioners to the site. Thanks to Teacher's arrangement, these two newcomers swiftly pointed out the shortcomings that we were unaware of and the attachments that each of the original four were stuck on. In the past, we were so busy in doing the three things we overlooked our own fundamental attachments. Even if we did mention each other's attachments we did not pay enough serious attention to them. For myself, I am relatively headstrong and not kind enough in my tone. Thus my words may hurt others. We should first rectify ourselves; otherwise how can we do Dafa work with the purest hearts? Teacher warns us in "Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference" that "Your path is, and I think you've all seen this now, actually very narrow. If you deviate just a little bit you won't measure up to the standard of a Dafa disciple. There's only one very righteous path we can walk on, and we can't deviate even just a little bit, because this is required by history, and required by the lives of sentient beings in the future cosmos." Realizing this, we sat down and calmed our minds to study the Fa, to discuss and share, and then to find our own areas for improvement. We're determined to do better and better at our materials site during this last period of Fa-rectification.

The evil old forces are looking for any gap or loophole to frantically interfere with Dafa truth material sites. They have employed many ways and means to prevent our computers and machines from functioning normally. With righteous thoughts and actions, we do heart-to-heart communication with the machine while sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil persecution. We realized that it is not accidental for a machine to serve Dafa so we should treat the machine as a being to deal with it. Let the machines unite together with us to stop the old forces' evil interference.

Not too long ago, I was sending a news article to Minghui Net about a practitioner having been persecuted to death in China. The net transfer failed several times and the checkout showed all processes were normal. After sensing the old forces' interference, I sat in the lotus position to send forth righteous thoughts. I felt big and tall with strong righteous thoughts. Ten minutes later, the news transfer was successful. There was another occasion when the printouts of the latest issue of Minghui Weekly had either messed-up fonts or even blanks. Our important mission to pass on the master draft copy to other sites attracted the evil's interference. I simply calmed my mind and sent forth righteous thoughts for 15 minutes. Then the printer printed out neat, clear page after page of the master draft copy.

Our computer is very sagacious with abilities. Sometimes getting lost in the busy work I forgot the time to send forth righteous thoughts and then the computer programs would stop and the cursor would quit blinking. Looking at my watch, it was the time to send forth righteous thoughts. After sending forth righteous thoughts the computer went back to functioning normally. Our copier behaves in a similar way. At the early stage of establishing this truth materials site, the demand was small and so we bought a copier with a low reproduction rate of tens of sheets per minute. With the ever-increasing demand, the copy machine workload got bigger and bigger. Our copier never gets lazy and keeps cooperating happily with the Dafa work. Even in the hot summer, it never stops by itself although the machine could automatically shut down from overheating. Sometimes when Teacher's new lectures came out, the copier would work nicely and happily from early morning to late at night. Its happy sound would appear to be like a song as if the machine felt good to work for Dafa.

The practitioner responsible for duplication usually communicates with the copier and the machine listens and seems to be able to respond back. One time the practitioner carelessly placed a pack of papers with the already printed side reversed for 2-side copy. The copier got jammed with the first piece of paper and then quit working even after clearing the jammed paper. The practitioner felt the oddness of the copier's sudden malfunction and double-checked everything to find his error of putting the already printed side down. If not corrected, all 200 copies would have been wasted. He acknowledged his own mistake and expressed his thanks to the machine. Then the copier went back to its happy operation. Also the vendor told us that such a copier would last up to printing some 200,000 copies, but our machine is still copying well after 600,000. This is yet more evidence that Dafa is supernormal.

Our VCD burner has some stories too. Once, for a period of time the practitioner doing our VCD duplication was not in a good state of cultivation. He did not study the Fa or practice the exercises on a regular basis, so the machine got upset too and did not function well in its job of burning VCDs. It either stopped in the middle of burning or the copied VCD would not turn during play. Thus we got together with this practitioner and studied the Fa as a group. After seeing his own deficiencies and gaps, the practitioner actively communicated with the machine by admitting his mistakes and expressing his wish that the burner would work with him in making the best Dafa VCD's to save sentient beings. The true wonder was that the machine then burned 200-some VCD's without any defects and it keeps on functioning well. Of course occasionally the machine may be temperamental. For example, one time, in order to run some errands near noon the practitioner told the machine, "You can take a break now." But he returned right away upon stepping outside to be greeted by the rain. The practitioner wanted to continue the VCD copying but somehow the burner would not work at all. Upon reflection, he started to study the Fa together with the machine by reading aloud one chapter of the book Zhuan Falun. After that, the machine went back to functioning normally.

The above-mentioned short stories may sound like fairytales, but they really happen in our daily Dafa work. Everyday people's train of thought can never understand the supernatural phenomena. In "Teaching the Fa at the Discussion on Creating Fine Art,"

Teacher says, "Once something used by a cultivator has earned merit and virtue, it can become a Fa-instrument." Thus I think those machines used in doing Dafa work are unusual beings, as they also earn their merit and virtue. Therefore, we practitioners should treat the machines well so as to let them contribute more for Dafa and let them walk together with us all the way on this superbly magnificent path in assisting Teacher in rectifying the Fa.

My fellow practitioners, we are working as a whole in doing whatever needed to expose the evils, to save sentient beings, and to cultivate ourselves in our own environment. Let's do what should be done better and better to collectively fulfill our pre-historical wishes and vows. Finally please allow me to quote Teacher's words to encourage us. "While validating the Fa, no matter what form Dafa disciples use to save sentient beings, and no matter how you contribute, or what methods you use, you are validating the Fa, and you are forging ahead on the path of clarifying the facts. You're doing better and better, too, and you're becoming more and more rational." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.") "The path a Dafa disciple takes is a glorious history, and this history has to be created by his own enlightening." ("Path")

(Clearwisdom.net)

I am Falun Dafa practitioner in Hebei Province, China. At the end of July 2003 the police officers, just like ordinary thugs, abducted me from my home. As they dragged me away, I loudly called out, "Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is a righteous way! What have we Falun Gong practitioners done wrong?" Thus, a large crowd of people was immediately attracted. Deciding that this was a perfect opportunity to reveal the truth about the evil, I started to clarify the truth about Falun Gong and revealed the fact that these police officers were trying to illegally abduct me from my home. Looking defeated, the police officers admitted, "We don't want to do this, but we have to execute the orders from our superiors." Then, they started to pull me away.

Just then, my husband and son returned home, and started to struggle with the police officers. My son protested loudly, "You don't have any warrant for her arrest. This is illegal." The head of the police station replied, "I am the law. Bring all of them back to the station." An impure thought of mine surfaced. I started to fear that they might really take my son, a 12th-grade high school student, so I gave in and left with the police officers. All the way to the police station, I kept saying in the car, "Falun Dafa is good." When I arrived at the police station, the head of the Politics and Security section of the local police department presented a facade of kindness. "Why do you come here again? Do you not know that your case from last year hasn't concluded? You could have left your home and gone into hiding. Why do you stay at home?" (I realized I had a loophole as soon as the police officers arrived at my home. Teacher has given me hints in many forms before. I understood Teachers' hints but did not act on them.) I did not respond to his comments and concentrated on sending forth righteous thoughts. When he asked me to sign a prepared statement, I ignored him. Then, I was sent to a detention center. At first the detention center refused to take me because I didn't have a physical examination report. After the police officers begged them repeatedly, they finally agreed to take me.

As soon as I was thrown into the detention center, I decided that I must let all the inmates in my cell know I was a persecution victim, so I started to chant, "Falun Dafa is good. Falun Dafa is a righteous Fa." Then, I started singing "The Song of the Incomprehensible." (Draft translation subject to further improvement, "Gu Guai Song.") All of the inmates agreed with the lyrics. Some clapped and some asked me to sing again. I ended up singing the song the entire morning. Teacher said, "Every person you come into contact with in society is someone to clarify the truth to" ("To All Students at the Nordic Fa Conference").

At noon the head of the Politics and Security department produced a warrant for my arrest. The next day the Prosecutor's House filed a criminal charge against me, and told me they had done so. Then, a standing order from the People's Court was delivered to me. The entire prosecution process was completed in a flash. The inmates in my cell asked me why the process was so unusually swift. I explained to them, with Teacher's words, "The group of evil political scoundrels has never followed the law in dealing with Dafa disciples" ("Look at Things with Righteous Thoughts"). I thought to myself, "What they have decided does not count. It is what Teacher decides that counts." Then I decided that I must leave the detention center within seven days. (In hindsight, I realized that I had been wrong. I should not have stayed there for even one day.)

During my detention I went on a hunger strike. I refused to cooperate with the staff in any way, and did nothing but clarify the truth to them, including the police officers, the head of the Politics and Security section, officers from the Prosecutor's House, and staff from the People's Court. In the end they all lowered their heads and avoided looking at me directly. They admitted that they were being used by Jiang's regime because that's who paid their salaries. I explained to them, "You are persecuting those who try to become better people. When your superiors became depraved, you agreed to become their puppets, subjected yourselves to their manipulation, and atrophied your own moral values. Eventually you will perish as one of them." They looked each other and had nothing to say.

The People's Court sent me a standing order, asking if I needed an attorney. I was about to say yes when I thought, "I would be accepting the old forces' arrangements if I hired an attorney." I immediately declared, "Why would I need a lawyer when I did not commit any crime?" As I continued to clarify the truth to them, I could tell that in their hearts they agreed with me although they would not admit it. During the hunger strike, when I felt sick, I would recite one of Teacher's new poems: "A Great Enlightened Being does not fear hardship; Having forged an adamantine will; And with no attachment to living or dying; He walks his path of Fa-rectification openly and nobly" ("Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions"). By the time I got to the second line of the poem, any feeling of sickness would disappear. Whenever an attachment surfaced, a photograph of Teacher in a suit appeared before my eyes. I knew that Teacher was trying to encourage me to drive out all the impure thoughts. I asked Teacher to protect me.

On the morning of the 7th day of my hunger strike, I suddenly passed out and started coughing up blood. The inmates in my cell reported my situation to the head of the detention center, who then asked the head of Politics and Security to come over. Although I was lying on the floor, the inmates were afraid to move my body. Finally the head of the detention center and seven to eight other people carried me to a room. I refused to cooperate when they tried to take my blood pressure; I refused to cooperate when they tried to give me IV fluids. I kept on demanding to be released. Then they started threatening me, "If you refuse to cooperate with us, we will tie you to the death board.*" I refused to pay any attention to them. I cared about nothing other than sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate all the evil elements manipulating these people. Feeling frustrated and furious, they ordered a death board to be brought in, which was difficult to transport. This did not intimate me at all. The only thought on my mind was sending forth righteous thoughts. When they were just about to move me onto the death board, an order arrived, instructing them to take away the death board. When I heard the announcement, I burst into tears. I knew Teacher was about to release me from this place.

That afternoon several people from the People's Court arrived. The head of the detention center told them that I had not touched any food or water since I arrived, and that it had been seven days since I went on the hunger strike. It was then that I realized that my wish had come true. Then, the People's Court representative ordered my release. That same afternoon the head of the detention center opened the gate himself to let my husband carry me out of the detention center. He mumbled to himself as he walked toward the gate, "What kind of job am I doing?" All the police officers in the courtyard watched us leave. All the inmates, who witnessed the scene, were shocked and speechless. I knew very well that this was the power of Falun Dafa.

Later, I learned that during the past seven days my fellow practitioners outside the detention center kept sending forth righteous thoughts for me. My husband is also a Dafa practitioner. He kept calling the detention center, demanding my immediate release. They had planned to transfer me to a hospital that afternoon. They had decided that if the hospital found four types of illnesses in me, they would release me. Their plan was thwarted by Dafa practitioners' righteous thoughts. This story has proved that Dafa practitioners are one body. It also proved that, as long as Dafa practitioners steadfastly follow the Fa Teacher has given us, the old forces will have no power over us and Teacher will arrange everything perfectly for us.

*The "death board" (or "death bed") is a particularly hideous torture device. It is an iron or wooden board with handcuffs and shackles to lock the victims' four limbs into a stretched position. The victim is usually shackled to the death board for a minimum of seven days. As movement is completely restricted, muscles painfully begin to atrophy. In severe cases, the victim even loses control of bladder and bowel functions. The excreted stool and urine stay on the iron bed, resulting in an unsanitary condition. To save themselves the trouble of cleaning prisoners up, the torturers usually strip the victim down to a T-shirt or leave them totally naked, adding to the humiliation. Since the victim is not released from the board for many days, torture on the death board is usually coupled with the torture of forced-feeding. ("Death Beds" or "Death Boards" are in the "Torture by Devices" section of The Falun Gong Report 2002)

(Clearwisdom.net) A while ago, a fellow practitioner whom I had been doing Dafa work with since July 20, 1999 was abducted by the police. She had been abducted twice before and had been detained in four different detention centers. She also had been moving around from place to place to avoid further persecution since 2000, unable to return to her home without facing near certain arrest. When I heard the news, I felt deeply upset in my mind. In the following 5-6 days, I lost a lot of weight due to my disturbed state of mind. When I thought about her being locked up in a detention center again, I was really upset.

That kind of strong state of mind made me feel that it was not the benevolence a cultivator should have. But I did not pay attention to it and did not think deeply about it. A few days ago, when I was studying the Fa, I suddenly realized that it was "affection,"--it was affection towards fellow practitioners and one of the attachments we should remove through our cultivation.

For those fellow practitioners who were abducted in our area, they were all very diligent Dafa practitioners. We really got along well and co-operated well, especially with those we had been doing Dafa work with. We went through various difficult times together, and we developed "affection." This "affection" is even stronger than the feelings we have towards our family members and our friends.

We should remove this kind of emotional feeling through our cultivation because it is created for the living beings within the Three Realms. It is not Benevolence and does not have the connotation of higher levels. It controls only ordinary human beings. For example, for the fellow practitioner I mentioned, the affection I had toward her was because I am very familiar with her. But if I heard about an abducted fellow practitioner in another area, and if he was as diligent as her, my feeling would have not been as strong.

I also thought about why some people who were once steadfast practitioners became "transformed." Was it possible that we had strong feelings towards, or sometime we even adore some of our fellow practitioners? If many practitioners have such strong feelings, was it possible that the old forces used it as an excuse to "test" us? (For the practitioners being abducted, there must have been a gap that the old forces could make use of, otherwise the old forces would not have found a way to do it.)

Things like police abducting fellow practitioners points to our attachments. We should remove our strong affection towards our fellow practitioners. All we have encountered, seen and heard have pointed to our attachments. If we do not have these attachments, the old forces would not be able to make use of them in their effort to interfere with Fa-rectification, and to persecute our fellow practitioners. When this kind of thing happens, we should find our attachments and remove them completely.

Of course, most of our fellow practitioners, after going through such an evil and harsh environment, do not have this kind of attachment anymore. But some still have it. Each of our Dafa practitioners should base ourselves from the perspective of Fa-rectification and seriously deal with the attachments.

November. 1, 2003

(Clearwisdom.net) During my year-long illegal detention, I conducted a special survey of the detainees in which I asked them to write down answers to my questions.

Backgrounds of the people surveyed:

1. Those surveyed include young criminals, drug addicts, and white-collar criminals of different ages with a variety of knowledge and from all different walks of life.
2. When the Chinese media was slandering Falun Gong for its so-called "attack on the Sino-satellite," I conducted a special opinion exchange and survey that struck a chord in the hearts of the people involved. The survey consisted of three questions concerning Falun Gong.

Now I am making public three of the answers to the questions on the survey in their entirety.

Case 1: Female; education: middle school.

(1) Question: What is your opinion of Falun Gong practitioners?

Answer: Regarding Falun Gong practitioners, I have the following points of view. (a) As I understand, they touched people's hearts with their own hearts, and they won their popularity by following their virtue. (b) They are happy to help people. To them, no matter how big a mistake they make, if they recognize it and want to rectify it, then they are good. As far as this is concerned, common people cannot do that.

(2) Question: What is your opinion of the Chinese media's reports on Falun Gong?

Answer: Once, it was reported on TV that a Falun Gong practitioner had killed someone. However, what you hear may be false, but what you see [in person] is the truth. I have seen Falun Gong practitioners and they don't look like the people depicted on that TV show.

(3) Overall, what is your general view of Falun Gong practitioners?

Answer: Generally speaking, all the Falun Gong practitioners I have met are very nice people. They are kindhearted and willing to help people. They are not the type of cruel and malicious people mentioned on TV. I love Falun Gong practitioners and treat them as uncles, aunts, sisters and brothers. These are my comments regarding the practitioners of Falun Gong.

Case 2: Female, 35-years old. Education: elementary school.

Answer: Falun Gong is cultivation of the spirit, and it is good for any person. Falun Gong asks people to be nice to others and not to do bad things.

(2) Question: What is your opinion of the Chinese media's reports on Falun Gong?

Answer: Those reports from the media are all lies and are all incorrect.

Answer: Falun Gong practitioners helped me and made me clear-minded. They often did kind deeds for me. We should learn from them. Many thanks to the Falun Gong practitioners who taught me.

Case 3: Female; 30-years old; bank clerk.

(1) Question: What is your opinion of Falun Gong practitioners?

Answer: They are persistent. In any situation, they prefer to believe their Teacher and persist in their practice. They adhere to their principles. Whenever one has difficulty or gets into trouble, they will try their best to help them and make them see the point.

Answer: The "practitioners" portrayed by the media don't look like the ten practitioners I met here. The practitioners are not, in any sense, the kind of cruel people who have no compassion towards their relatives.

(3) Overall, what is your general view of Falun Gong practitioners?

Answer: I have met several practitioners. They are all easy-going, willing to help people, free from worldly strife, and they have no complaints about their own situation. Furthermore, they are relatively healthier than common people. They are all happy people with the aspiration for self-improvement.

-------------------------------------

Although these were just several thin sheets of paper with less than perfect handwriting, I have cherished this, as it is proof of people's understanding of and support for Dafa. The truth cannot be covered up. The lies will not last long. Among all the things one can possess, justice and conscience are the most valuable things in the world. I hope that more Chinese people will awaken to justice and the truth.

(Clearwisdom.net) I am forty years old. I want to use the changes in my mind and body as an example of Falun Dafa's goodness, and to speak out a fair word about Master Li Hongzhi and Falun Dafa to the kindhearted people all over the world.

1. The situation before I practiced Falun Dafa

a. My physical situation

I used to suffer from ectopia on the inner wall of my uterus. Every time I had my period, it felt so painful that I thought I would die. In addition, the pain happened on and off at other times. So each time it came, the pain was worse than the last time. I had an operation to cure this, but the doctor told me the disease was incurable; even the operation could not get rid of its root. Just as he said, I still felt the pain in my stomach after the operation. I also had a stubborn headache. Back when I was in school, if I concentrated on a lecture too long, my headache would become terrible, as if my head were about to explode.

After I got married and had a child, I suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and arthralgia [neuralgic pain in the joints]. I could not even hold my child. I searched for doctors everywhere to heal my illnesses. I had learned several types of Qigong and looked for Qigong masters who could heal my illnesses, but nothing worked. I had to use hot water to wash vegetables while cooking, even in the summertime. I dared not touch any cold water. I did not feel good day in and day out. None of the treatments I got had any effect at all. I had to live with illness and could do nothing about it.

Many different illnesses plagued me. None of my organs were healthy. I took medicine all day--both Chinese medicine and Western medicine. My time had to be carefully scheduled to take various kinds of medicine, and sometimes I wasn't even able to take them in time. I also had a tonsil infection. It was not a usual infection since my tonsils got infected every week. At the beginning, it stopped after I got acupuncture treatment. But it became more and more serious later on. When it occurred, even ten intravenous drips of very powerful medicine called Xianfeng (the name of the medicine) did not work. Although a thousand yuan was spent, I did not feel any better but got even worse--to the point of not being able to produce a sound.

I was treated in both the Chinese hospitals and Western hospitals. Doctors said, "You'd better hurry up and go to a bigger hospital. Your throat seems to have an unusual illness. Try practicing Falun Gong and see what happens. How come it did not work after you took so many intravenous drips? Do you think we used fake medicine? Why was the treatment ineffective?"

b. My spiritual situation

I used to do some business in a store, like many other people. The business world is like a battlefield. People compete with each other and deceive each other every day. Everyone treats others as enemies, so every day I felt uncomfortable. With a petty mind, I disliked everyone and would fight with my colleagues at the drop of a hat. I felt wronged all the time, and I asked myself why the world was so unfair. My heart was so hurt all the time. I could not eat well or sleep well and my whole person was on edge.

2. The changes after I began practicing Falun Gong in October 1997

I was lucky, for I was able to hear the great virtuous Law that Teacher Li taught. Through my study of Falun Dafa, I understood a lot of the inner meaning of Dafa as well as the meaning of life. I understood what my life existed for. I also understood that Falun Dafa is a true cultivation way of mind and body. It requires that we be good people first, then become better and better, until becoming among the best people among everyday people. It takes us to a higher and higher level until we return to our true selves.

After I obtained Dafa, I eagerly read Teacher's books, like crops absorbing fine rain. I tried my best to follow the requirements of Teacher's books and kept studying Dafa and practicing the exercises. My body was purified and all the illnesses I had before disappeared. My mind also improved, and I didn't feel any pressure anymore. I could also take everything lightly and not allow things to disturb me. My colleagues and I were then like family members and we had a harmonious relationship. My outlook on the world changed completely. I understood why people should not do bad things, because evil will be met with evil. Many people gave me gifts at work, but I always managed to return them. I told them that I practice Falun Gong and that people who practice Falun Gong are good people. I also told them not to worry about the gift thing and that I wouldn't have any problem with it if they didn't give me gifts.

At home, I also tried to follow Teacher's requirements, respecting my parents, guiding my child, and taking care of my husband. Since all my illnesses had gone, I took care of all the housework--unlike the rumor spread by the media, that once people practice Falun Gong, they don't care about anyone or anything. I enlightened to the fact that only Falun Dafa can change people's hearts, make them kind, and restore human beings' moral standard.

Isn't it true that even the [name ommitted] Party also promoted "seek truth via facts?" Why can't it allow us to speak out about the truth? We've become better people since we've practiced Falun Dafa. Is it because of this that they want to hold those "reform classes" to change us back? Isn't it nice that more and more people want to improve themselves both mentally and physically? What laws did we break? Is becoming better people breaking the law? We just speak out about the truth of Falun Gong. How is this breaking any law?

The above is my personal experience. I truly have felt the great power of Dafa. As Teacher said, it is "the reappearance of the mighty Buddha Fa in the human world!"

( From http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/5/25/10363.html )

(Clearwisdom.net) The articles published on the Clearwisdom.net, both Chinese and English, have had a significant effect of clarifying the truth and frightening the evil, and in the future, these articles will serve as evidence in bringing to justice those vicious perpetrators via lawful means. Therefore, the accounts of the crimes of torture need to be very accurate so that they can serve their purpose well.

I have noticed that some English translations of torture methods are not accurate. For example, in the article "Short Stories: The Power of Righteous Thoughts" (http://www.clearwisdom./emh/articles/2003/9/18/40424.html)

"The Dafa practitioner was handcuffed to the death bed," was translated as, "Then he was tied to a bed, unable to move."

"Handcuffed to the death bed," and "tied to a bed, unable to move" are very different in conveying the extent of the torture.

"Tied to a bed, unable to move" does not give one an impression that the torture is very severe. I suggest that we refer to the annually published English Falun Gong Report when translating the torture methods so that ordinary society understands the facts of the torture and the articles serve the purpose of documenting the torture.

According to the Falun Gong Report published in 2002, Chapter Two "Torture Equipment" (page 48) it says, "Death Bed (also named Death Board) is a very cruel torture device. It is made of steel or a wooden board equipped with shackles. The victim's four limbs are fixed to the board for at least seven days. Because of completely losing the freedom to move, victims usually suffer from muscle degeneration. In severe cases, victims lose control of their bowels and bladders. They excrete directly on the steel plate, causing a unhygienic condition. In order to avoid the trouble of cleaning up, victims would usually be allowed to wear only a T-shirt, or sometimes even nothing at all, further denigrating the victims. Because victims are usually tied to the deathbed for many days, this torture is combined with the torture of force-feeding."

It is our goal that readers are able to immediately understand the facts of the torture when reading these articles, without having to refer to other websites. We need to explain well the cruel facts of the torture cases, as well as the circumstances in which torture cases take place and the victims' physical suffering.

If the translation is not accurate, people will be unable to realize the severe nature of the torture.

November 3, 2003

(Clearwisdom.net) BEIJING, Nov 10 (AFP) - A Chinese crackdown on online activism -- highlighted by a mounting wave of arrests and trials -- is unlike other recent government campaigns, because anyone can become a victim, experts said Monday.

The year-long detention of Liu Di, an ordinary Beijing student who posted democracy essays on the Internet, shows that this time the target is not just a well-defined group of open-mouthed intellectuals.

"What you see is a pattern in which the government is arresting more and more people who are not 'dissidents'," said Bobson Wong, a New York-based researcher on the social impact of the Internet.

"Liu Di wasn't a dissident, she was just a kid."

The detention of Liu has clearly sent chills down the spines of many Chinese, and her arrest has triggered unusually widespread calls for clemency.

What bothers many is that a 23-year-old girl, who may have thought little about the consequences of expressing her views online, could be met with the full force of China's system of oppression, observers said.

She has emerged as the most well-known person to fall foul of the Internet censors, who are engaged in a massive drive to quell discussion of sensitive political issues online.

Jiang Lijun, a Beijing-based activist accused of being a ringleader of a pro-democracy community in cyberspace, went on trial last week, and the verdict is still pending.

Du Daobin, a prolific contributor of articles on social and political issues to online forums, was arrested near his home in central China's Hubei province one week earlier.

At about the same time, the ministry of culture announced plans for a nationwide surveillance system aimed at controlling what people read and write when they visit one of the country's 110,000 Internet cafes.

"I think this is partly because Internet use is growing rapidly in China and the government wants to send a message that it will not tolerate any dissent online," said Wong.

Analysts disagree whether the government has stepped up its efforts in recent months and weeks, or if policies in place for years are just beginning to attract more attention.

But the consensus is that China is reaching a crucial stage, as public discontent is brewing over issues ranging from unemployment to official graft, while technology makes it easier than ever to discuss those matters.

"There are more and more social problems, and people, especially the young, increasingly use the Internet to air their views," said Frank Lu, who heads the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

The question is whether the government is united in its attempt to rein in free speech on the Internet, which now has at least 68 million users in China and is becoming a difficult animal to harass.

Even as reports are accumulating of government measures to stamp out what it considers subversive Internet use, it is far from obvious that the overall trend is for tighter controls.

Beijing prosecutors said late last month that they were not able yet to process the case of Liu Di, the university student, telling police to come up with better evidence.

Shortly afterwards, four young intellectuals sentenced to jail for posting their views on social issues online appeared at a day-long appeal trial and were given ample time to defend themselves, although the appeal was turned down Monday.

[...]

http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/al/Qchina-dissident-internet.R3-i_DNA.html

(Clearwisdom.net)

• [Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province] Falun Dafa Practitioner Yu Wenyou Dies from Persecution
• [Shandong Province] Falun Dafa Practitioners Xu Hongwei and Liu Dagong Illegally Sentenced
• [Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province] Police Unlawfully Arrest Falun Gong Practitioner
• [Shenyang City, Liaoning Province] Falun Dafa Practitioner Song Zhijie Illegally Sentenced to Forced Labor
• [Zhoulu County, Hebei Province] Criminal Record of "610 Office" Member Li Zhiming
• [Sichuan Province] Jiang's Regime Plans to Deceive Minority Groups by Using Slanderous Movies

According to information from China, Falun Dafa practitioner Yu Wenyou died from persecution in Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province on August 10, 2003. Yu was originally from Zhejiang Province. Two other practitioners who were with Yu Wenyou at the time, Yu You and Shang Guiming, are still being tortured.

According to reports from the Penglai TV station and information from local practitioners, Falun Dafa practitioner Xu Hongwei and Liu Dagong were arrested with other practitioners on June 2 by the local "610 Office." Xu and Liu were reported to the police because they copied and posted truth-clarifying materials. Xu was illegally sentenced to 5 years in prison, and Liu was sentenced to 2 years in a forced labor camp.

[The "610 Office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.]

Xu Hongwei's father is a retired factory worker. Neither his mother nor his wife is employed. His family, with the recent birth of a son, is going through a very difficult time right now.

Liu Dagong, with righteous thoughts and actions, resisted cooperating with the police. He did not answer any questions during the interrogation, and was later sentenced to 2 years in a forced labor camp. Other practitioners who have been released or bailed out are required to participate in so-called "transformation classes." The person who is in charge of this task of "transformation" is the assistant secretary of the Political and Judiciary Committee of Penglai City, Zhang Rongfu. His cell phone number is 86-13605457576.

A Falun Dafa practitioner was reported to the police while handing out truth-clarifying materials. Police from Xisanzhuang Police Station, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, illegally arrested this practitioner. Threatening to ransack their home, the police forced his/her family members to hand over Falun Dafa audiotapes and truth-clarification materials. The police then tried to force the practitioner's family members to beat him/her up, and they also tried to force this practitioner to write a so-called "guarantee statement" to give up practicing Falun Dafa. Only after extorting 2,000 Yuan from him/her, did the police finally release the practitioner.

Responsible party: Xisanzhuang Police Station, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province

Police Officer Li Shiming, Police Station Chief Che, Assistant Chief Bai.

Telephone: 86-311-7755396, 86-311-7776483, and 86-311-7776497.

Falun Dafa practitioner Song Zhijie used to work as a lighting designer at Shenyang TV station's design department. Song was illegally arrested in mid-June 2003, while validating Falun Dafa and clarifying the truth. Song firmly believes in Dafa, and he was sentenced to one year of forced labor on July 15, 2003. He is currently imprisoned at Zhangshi Forced Labor Camp, in Shenyang City.

Office manager Zhao Xuan and assistant manager Li Zhiming lead the "610 Office" at Zhoulu County, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province. They have used every possible means to persecute Falun Dafa and Dafa practitioners. Although Li Zhiming is "on loan" to the "610 Office" from another agency, he does all he can to persecute Dafa practitioners. He even boasted that the Jiang regime has five standards, etc. [The five standards refer to the internal documents within the government on the persecution of Falun Dafa]. His evil deeds at Songhuashanzhuan Brainwashing Center include beating and scolding Falun Dafa practitioners, using an electronic baton to shock a sixty-year-old lady, and forcing a pregnant woman to kneel on the floor for a long period of time. He was even awarded the third level merit for persecuting Falun Gong by the County Party Secretary Zhang Weidong. To this day, Li continues persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners without any signs of remorse.

According to news from the Sichuan TV station, Jiang's regime has dispatched a dozen vehicles equipped with movie projectors to the remote regions of western China, where ethnic minorities live. These vehicles will be used to show movies that attack and slander Falun Dafa. The goal is to deceive and poison the ethnic minorities there.

(Clearwisdom.net)

The Beian Court sentenced four Falun Gong practitioners to prison, including Mr. Zhao Hongjun, Mr. Gao Xiaowei, Mr. Jiang Zhigang, and Ms. Li Yuanyuan. Zhao Hongjun was sentenced to 10 years, Gao Xiaowei to 9 years, and Jiang Zhigang to 7 years. They are being detained in the Xinsheng Prison in Beian City. Li Yuanyuan was sentenced to 5 years and is being detained in the Harbin Women's Prison.

Mr. Zhao, a contact person for the Wanyuan City Falun Gong practice site, was illegally arrested.

A practitioner from Nongan County was tortured in the Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp, causing paralysis in his lower limbs. He is unable to eat and is unable to hold down food. His life is in danger.

On Friday, October 31, 2003, the Lishan Court in Anshan City falsely accused and tried Mr. Wang Hongnan, Mr. Yang Kezhi, and Ms. Wang Lan... Currently they are being detained in the Anshan No. 1 Detention Center.

Responsible Parties:
Lishan Court: 86-412-6821055
Anshan No. 1 Detention Center: 86-412-2960506

Parties Responsible for the Illegal Arrests of Practitioners:
Youhao Police Station: 86-412-6333434
Prosecutors' Report Phone Line: 86-412-5562000

On September 16, three practitioners, Ms. Liu Chunlan, Ms. Wang Xiurong, and Ms. Yuan Junhong were arrested. On October 21 they were sent to the Shuanghe Labor Camp in Qiqihar City. Liu Chunlan and Wang Xiurong's blood pressure had reached extremely high levels, therefore the labor camp refused to accept them. The staff looked for the police officers who had brought them to the camp but found that they had all left. Liu Chunlan has had high blood pressure during her entire time in the labor camp and her life is in danger. The camp forced the local police and her family to take her back for treatment. Wang Xiurong is still being detained in the labor camp.

Ms. Gui Wenfang is a 68 year old Falun Gong practitioner from the Qiaokou area in Wuhan City. On the morning of October 17 at 8:00 a.m. a policeman named Yan Guoquan arrested her. Later she was taken to the Hanjia Police Station and currently she is being detained in the Etouwan brainwashing class. When her family demanded that they release her, Li Wei, a police officer said, "She has to give up her belief and disavow Falun Gong, otherwise she cannot be released."

Community Office: 86-27-83873154
The Director of Street Committee, Zhao: 86-27-62694256

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Gao Aihua is currently being detained in the Etouwan Brainwashing Class. Until recently her family had no knowledge of her whereabouts.

Ms. Chai Yuying is a 47-year old practitioner who lives on Gucheng Street in Nongan County, Jilin Province. On October 14, 2003 at 3:00 p.m., while she was doing housework, seven policemen suddenly broke into her home and took her away. Police also searched her home and confiscated Falun Gong materials. Her family is not allowed to visit her and do not even know her whereabouts.

On July 20, 2003 Ms. Jiang Jing, a Falun Gong practitioner from Chengyang Town, Qingdao City went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. With a heart-felt voice she shouted, "Falun Dafa is great!" She then clarified the truth to a person, who might have been a plain-clothes policeman, on Tiananmen Square, and was arrested. The Chengyang Town authorities sent her to the Wangcun Women's Prison in Zibo City and sentenced her to three years of forced labor. She went on a hunger strike for 80 days, and using her righteous thoughts she was finally released.

Mr. Guo Shuxue previously had leukemia, but after practicing Falun Gong he was completely cured. In 2002 he was illegally arrested and sentenced to the Jiamusi Prison. His brother, who came from Yichun City, was not allowed to see Guo and was forced to return home. Prison police feared that people would see from Guo's injuries and realize how badly he had been tortured.

Mr. Liu Chuanjiang, a Falun Gong practitioner, refused to accept the illegal sentence he was given, and appealed to a higher court of law, clarifying the truth that those who practice Falun Dafa follow the principles of "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance" and are innocent. A policeman named Sui Jin in the Jiamusi Prison found various excuses to beat Liu Chuanjiang. The other Falun Gong practitioners in prison with Liu Chuanjiang protested and refused to wear prison clothes. Their actions shook the police authorities.

Jiamusi Prison Address: 76 Anqing Road, Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province 154002
Education Reform Office: 86-454-8317448
Main Office: 86-454-8303838

On September 23, Ms. Sun Shufen, who lives on Kaoshan Street in the Longtan area of Jilin City, was arrested illegally in her own restaurant. Currently she is being held at the Changchun Forced Labor Camp. This is the second time that she has been sent to a forced labor camp.

The cousin of a Falun Gong practitioner wanted to go overseas to study and went to a police station to apply for a visa. The police refused to process his application. His family did not understand and asked the police why this was the case. They replied. "His aunt practices Falun Gong, so we can not grant him a visa. The decision is beyond our control."

During April of 2000, a practitioner from Changchun, Ms. Liu Lixia, was illegally detained in the Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp in Changchun. Everyday policemen and camp guards beat her and shocked her with electric batons. Sometimes up to seven policemen beat, shocked, and kicked her. The police included Li, Zhu Dan, Liu, and Hou. (Hou was later promoted to the head of Team Seven because he was particularly vicious in his treatment of practitioners.) Zhang Tao, a camp guard, was even more vicious -- he would used electric batons to shock the mouths of practitioners, causing their faces and mouths to swell to the point that they could not eat.

According to a Chinese website report on October 28, 2003, "The Internet Cafe Monitoring System in Sichuan and Guangxi Provinces have been completed."

The Internet Monitoring System records which websites a user visits. With this information the police can find all related records. Meanwhile the organizations involved in the monitoring system can keep an eye on the information the user views. The Department of Culture is the local agency that monitors Internet usage.

The Ministry of Culture wants internet cafes around the country to abide by the same standards. By the end of August, 16 out of 23 software enterprises had passed the test, and the monitoring systems in Sichuan and Guangxi have been fully installed.

Recently the head of the Ministry of Culture's Marketing Department Liu Yuzhu said that currently they are constructing an Internet Cafe Monitoring System for the entire country.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhuo Yue is 30 years old. Because she spoke good words on behalf of Falun Gong she was sent to a labor camp. Later she was released on parole. After she went home, the local "610 Office"* arrested her again, claiming that she did not report on time. She is being detained in the "small island" of the Cuotou Women's Forced Labor Camp. Her 11-year old daughter is forced to be home alone with no one to care for her.

* "610 Office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

Guo Jiancheng is a policeman at the Xiertiao Police Station in Changchun. He harassed and arrested Falun Gong practitioners many times. In order to rise up within the ranks and earn a bonus, he did all he could to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. He actively participated in the arrest of a practitioner named Ms. An Fengxiang, who was outside of his jurisdiction, and he also threatened other practitioners.

On July 12, 2003, a strange thing happened at a local newspaper in a city in Sichuan Province, but because they covered it up many people do not know about it.

A newspaper photographer went out to take pictures to enhance the layout of the cover page. Several days after the picture was published, a handwriting specialist from the police department noticed that the phrase "Falun Dafa is good" appeared in fuzzy writing, in the photograph. He called the newspaper three times. The newspaper and its editor in chief immediately called a conference; they reported to the Propaganda Department and to the central government. The central government ordered the city government to investigate the incident secretly. The "610 Office" was directly involved in the investigation.

All employees involved in the publishing of the newspaper were told that if they or their family members practiced Falun Gong, they would be dismissed and sentenced to 8 years of forced labor. Many of the employees in the 13 departments, from the editor in chief to members of the publishing department, including the photographer were punished. Some of them were dismissed, some were demoted and had their salaries reduced, and/or were relocated to other departments. Actually the employees that were punished were all people who are very discrete and strictly followed orders. The environment at the newspaper is very tense and everyone is worried for themselves.

A practitioner who was a company manager in Qinigdao City accompanied his wife to distribute flyers telling the truth about Falun Gong. Someone reported them and they were arrested and taken to the local police station. The chief of police at the station saw this practitioner, who was a former acquaintance, and said, "It is not that I do not want to help you. If you were an ordinary criminal guilty of hitting somebody, gang fighting, gambling, or visiting prostitutes, I would have released you right away because of our relationship. But since you practice Falun Gong, I do not dare to release you. If someone reports me to higher authorities," he pointed to his police uniform, "I would be stripped of my uniform. I will see what I can do to help you." But the next day this policeman sent him to the Qingdao "610 Office" to undergo a brainwashing class. His wife was sent to a forced labor camp to serve three years of forced labor.

It is clear that senior police officials and junior officers alike tremble in fear of being punished at the hands of Jiang and his gang. They commit all kinds of crimes in order to keep their titles.

(Clearwisdom.net) A "solemn declaration" is a person's public statement declaring to the world that whatever he or she has done or said under duress or deception that was against Falun Dafa is null and void. Most of these statements have come from Falun Dafa practitioners in China who wished to express regret that, in the face of physical torture and brainwashing, they had signed documents renouncing Dafa and guaranteeing not to practice again. Also, as more and more people in China learn the truth about how they have been deceived and lied to by the Jiang regime, many non-practitioners are also submitting "solemn declarations."

Here are some examples of the Solemn Declarations:

• Dafa Disciples' Solemn Statements [9/2/2003]
• Solemn Declarations by Non-Practitioners[8/16/2003]
• Solemn Declaration by a Young Dafa Practitioners [9/5/2003]

Please click here for more Solemn Declarations.

(Clearwisdom.net)

1) At the Third Labor Education Center of Xuchang City, Henan Province, Falun Gong practitioners are forced to work 13 to 14 hours a day. Sometimes they need to work to 2 to 4 in the morning to finish the work. Practitioners are forced to attend brainwashing classes. Every day, two to four criminals who are either drug addicts or thieves monitor practitioners on a 24-hour basis.

Practitioners who stick to their belief are inhumanely tortured: they are punched, kicked, hung up by a rope, shocked by electric baton, and beaten by rubber baton. Their terms are illegally extended and they are not allowed to sleep for days on end.

The tortures also include putting practitioners on a hot surface, having them put on "tight clothes, anal brushing with a toothbrush (which causes severe bleeding), poking the penis with a sharp object, rubbing toothbrush handles between the fingers, pounding the finger tips with heavy items, pouring cold water on the head, the so called "surfing" (lifting the body up with the limbs extended and throwing the body onto hard surfaces such as a bench, a steel bed, the floor, etc). To date, at least two practitioners are known to have died from the torture here, and many others have been handicapped physically or psychologically.

2) The Yangyuan Brainwashing Base of the "610 Office" of the Wuhan City Government in Hubei Province has been using brutal torture on Falun Gong practitioners, trying to force them to give up their belief. The crimes committed there include:
1. Body searching, bag searching, and room searching. If articles by Teacher or other Falun Gong materials are found, there will be more brutal persecution.
2. Practitioners are not allowed to recite Teacher's articles, practice the exercises, or promote Falun Gong. They are not even allowed to talk or go outside.
3. Falun Gong practitioners are detained 24 hours a day.
4. Practitioners are forced to watch videos or books that slander Falun Gong.
5. People who have been transformed (coerced by authorities to give up their belief in Falun Gong) talk to practitioners 24 hours a day. They do not allow practitioners to sleep.
6. Brutal forms of torture and beatings. Practitioners are forced to stand in the sun in the summer. They are locked up and handcuffed. They are bitten by mosquitoes. They are also forced to sleep on the "deathbed" (a torture instrument where practitioners have their limbs tied to a bed frame for days at a time, unable to move at all) and hung up with fetters. Many people lose consciousness when being hung up. Some have been beaten to only have the last breath, and some have been persecuted to death.
7. Extort money from practitioners.
8. Practitioners have to pay a lot of money for food, but are given leftovers to eat, which is often not enough. During the wintertime, they are forced to take cold baths.

A Water Pump Works Well Again Without Being Repaired:

A female practitioner in a village in Liaoning Province is not rich, but she always saves money and hands it over to other practitioners to make Falun Gong materials. Once the TV at her home stopped working, and it would cost her a lot of money to have it repaired. She thought that if she spent the money to fix the TV, she would have less money to save people. Hence she decided not to do it.

Several days later her husband turned on the TV and found out that the TV worked well. Another time the water pump at her home did not function. It too would cost a lot of money to have it fixed, but she had to fix it. She said to Master in her mind: "Master, I really do not have the money!" Dafa manifested another miracle - the water pump began to function without being repaired. This really surprised her husband, a non-practitioner. Now her husband really supports her in her Dafa work. He always helps her to pick up Dafa materials and agrees to use all the money above and beyond their living expenses to save people.

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