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Winnipeg Sun (Canada): Chinese abuses protested By Dean Pritchard, Staff Reporter A woman, battered and bloody, crouches in a small wooden cage as a guard
looms nearby. Another woman, her hands bound overhead, is beaten with a heavy
baton. A third, her fingernails punctured by bamboo shoots, stares distantly at
the ground as a guard threatens her with a baton. Their crime? Practising an
ancient form of meditation and self-improvement called Falun Dafa (also known as
Falun Gong). The Falun Dafa Association of Canada staged a gory torture re-enactment
outside the Winnipeg Convention Centre yesterday afternoon to raise awareness of
the persecution of millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China. While unimaginable for most passing by, the torture scenes were all too real
for Lizhi He. He spent 3 1/2 years in a Beijing prison after police caught the construction
engineer mailing letters to friends disputing government propaganda discrediting
Falun Gong. 'BASED ON LIES' "At that time, the whole propaganda vilified Falun Gong. All the
materials were based on lies," said He, who now lives in Winnipeg. He said he benefited greatly from Falun Gong, which is based on principles of
tolerance, compassion and truthfulness. During his time in prison, he was tortured with electrical shock and
contracted tuberculosis. Recognized as a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International
Canada, He immigrated to Canada last January shortly after his release. Falun Gong is an ancient spiritual practice that only gained wide public
exposure in China in 1992, said Falun Dafa Association spokesman Dave Meek.
Within a few years, the number of known Falun Gong practitioners in China
reached as high as 60 (70 to 100) million, rivalling membership in China's
Communist party. In 1999, former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin ordered an official ban on the
practice. Since then, anywhere from 10,000 to 500,000 Falun Gong practitioners
have been tortured or imprisoned because of their beliefs, Meek said. "Because of the closed system in China it's virtually impossible to get
correct statistics. No information goes in or out of China except for secret
sources, leaks and people who immigrated and have the heart to tell people
what's going on." http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2004/08/17/586769.html Posting date: 8/18/2004 |