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==Beginning of the conflict==
==Background==
[[Image:Falun_gong_in_new_york_city.jpg|thumb|250px|Falun Gong practitioners enacting torture scenes in [[New York City]]]]

[[Image:Falun_Gong_Demonstration.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Demonstration against persecution of Falun Gong at the [[2004 Republican National Convention]] in New York City]]


[[Image:Arrest_of_Falun_Gong_Practitioners.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Arrest of People practicing the 5th. exercise in China]]
[[Image:Arrest_of_Falun_Gong_Practitioners.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Arrest of People practicing the 5th. exercise in China]]
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[[Image:Tianamen_beating.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Arrest of Falun Gong Practitioners in Beijing]]
[[Image:Tianamen_beating.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Arrest of Falun Gong Practitioners in Beijing]]


The conflict between the Chinese government and the Falun Gong was initiated by Falun Gong's suppression of its critics. Due to the size of these protests – often thousands of practitioners at a time – the media companies often gave in to their demands. On May 27, 1998, twelve days after the Chinese Central TV had aired a positive coverage of the Falun Gong, the Beijing Television Station aired a critical report of the Falun Gong. In that report, a professor in China’s Academy of Science accused the Falun Gong of being harmful to its followers. Soon after that, in early June, more than a thousand practitioners besieged the station for days demanding an apology. Under pressure “the TV station's chief fired the 24-year-old reporter involved and broadcast a favorable report about the group a few days later."[http://www.valdostamuseum.org/hamsmith/FalunDafa99Apr.html#wsj]
[[Falun Gong]]’s founder, [[Li Hongzhi]], introduced the practice to the public in May 1992. For the first few years after introducing Falun Gong to the world, Li Hongzhi was granted several awards by Chinese governmental organizations to encourage him to continue promoting what was then considered by them to be a wholesome practice. Invited by Qigong organizations from each area in China, during the period from 1992 to the end of 1994, Li traveled to almost all major Chinese cities to teach the practice. In the later part of that period, there were four to five thousand people attending each seminar. Its scale was unprecedented at that time. Since 1995, Li has been teaching outside China. The practice was popularized in mainland China for seven years, mainly by word of mouth and through the [[Internet]].


On April 11, 1999, a retired theoretical physicist, professor He Zuoxiu, published a short article which charged that by practicing Falun Gong a young student he knew suffered mental illness. The article appeared in Science and Technology for Youth, an obscure magazine published by Tianjin College of Education, 100 miles southeast of Beijing. Eight days after its publication, Falun Gong practitioners whose feelings had been hurt by this “extremely irresponsible article” besieged the publisher’s office in a protest.14 They presented three demands to the magazine company: 1) publicly apologize to the Falun Gong organization, 2) retrieve all magazines and destroy them, 3) publish an announcement to stop anyone from reprinting the article. Days went by and, in response to a total refusal by the publisher to meet their demands, the Falun Gong protesters increased their numbers dramatically.
At the end of May [[1998]], a Chinese physicist from the [[Chinese Academy of Science]], He Zuoxiu, denounced Falun Gong in an interview on Beijing Television. The program, after showing a video of one of the practice sites, called it a "feudalistic superstition". <!-- What is the actual content of the video ? --> The TV station was swamped by protest letters from Falun Gong practitioners, and practitioners were also protesting in front of its offices.


By April 23rd, with more than 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners now encircling its offices, the publishing company had met its breaking point – they called in the police. Later that afternoon about four hundred police came and forced the Falun Gong practitioners to leave. About one dozen practitioners who refused to leave were arrested, but the conflict didn’t end there. That night and the next day about 2,500 Falun Gong practitioners encircled the Tianjin city hall demanding the release of those practitioners. After their demand was refused they and many others went to Beijing on the 25th, directly putting pressure on the central government leaders by surrounding their compound. According to the report of one of the practitioners’ representatives who talked to the government official on that day, their demands were that the central government: 1) require the Tianjin police to release the Falun Gong practitioners as soon as possible, 2) lift the ban against publishing Zhuan Falun, 3) allow a fair and lawful environment to practice Falun Gong.[http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/3/10/45906.html]
On [[April 11]], [[1999]], He Zuoxiu published an article in the ''Tianjin College of Education’s Youth Reader magazine'' entitled ''"I Do Not Agree with Youth Practicing Qigong"''. <!-- link to article in English needed --> From April 18 to April 24, Falun Gong practitioners went to Tianjin College of Education, which published the magazine, and related governmental agencies
and held protests.<!-- behaviour of protesters ? -->


Some practitioners were arrested and were beaten by the police according to at least one report.<ref name="ReidG">Reid, Graham (Apr 29-May 5, 2006) [http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3442/features/5972/nothing_left_to_lose.html "Nothing left to lose"], ''New Zealand Listener'', retreived July 6, 2006</ref> Several days later, for 12 hours on [[April 25]] [[1999]], about 10,000 people lined up along a 2 km stretch at the Central Appeal Office outside [[Zhongnanhai]], the headquarters of Chinese government. [[Premier of the People's Republic of China|Premier]] [[Zhu Rongji]] met with some representatives of the practitioners and promised to resolve the situation within three days. The practitioners dispersed peacefully after they received word that Zhu had agreed to their requests.<ref name="Rutgers03">Smith, Chrandra D. (March 11, 2003) [http://www-camlaw.rutgers.edu/publications/law-religion/new_devs/RJLR_ND_66.pdf "Chinese Persecution of Falun Gong"], ''[http://www-camlaw.rutgers.edu/publications/law-religion/Dnew03.htm Rutgers J. of L. & Relig. New Dev.66]'', retreived July 14, 2006</ref> Nevertheless, it was reported that Falun Gong practitioners organizing a protest alarmed many senior leaders, particularly [[Jiang Zemin]].<ref name="ReidG"/> According to some estimates, at this time there were more than 100,000 Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing.<ref name="ReidG"/>
For 12 hours on [[April 25]] [[1999]], about 10,000 people lined up along a 2 km stretch at the Central Appeal Office outside [[Zhongnanhai]], the headquarters of Chinese government. [[Premier of the People's Republic of China|Premier]] [[Zhu Rongji]] met with some representatives of the practitioners and promised to resolve the situation within three days. The practitioners dispersed peacefully after they received word that Zhu had agreed to their requests.<ref name="Rutgers03">Smith, Chrandra D. (March 11, 2003) [http://www-camlaw.rutgers.edu/publications/law-religion/new_devs/RJLR_ND_66.pdf "Chinese Persecution of Falun Gong"], ''[http://www-camlaw.rutgers.edu/publications/law-religion/Dnew03.htm Rutgers J. of L. & Relig. New Dev.66]'', retreived July 14, 2006</ref> Nevertheless, it was reported that Falun Gong practitioners organizing a protest alarmed many senior leaders, particularly [[Jiang Zemin]].<ref name="ReidG"/> According to some estimates, at this time there were more than 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing.<ref name="ReidG"/>


Julie Ching (2001) has stated: "The overseas Chinese-language press has suggested that the Zhongnanhai demonstrations were actually organized in part by the government, to help trump up charges against the Falun Gong, which it had observed and monitored for years through its infiltrators. It even gives the name of a high official, [Luo] Gan, as being the chief Communist organizer of the Zhongnanhai gathering. As secretary general of the State Council, [Luo] had been investigating Falun Gong and had wanted it banned since 1996 but could not find any legal basis for transgression. In that case, it is not certain where the Falun followers intended first to make their petition, but [Luo] had the police direct them to Zhongnanhai, in order to create an incident with which they afterwards could be charged."<ref>Ching, Julie (January 1, 2001 [http://www.rickross.com/reference/fa_lun_gong/falun258.html "The Falun Gong: Religious and political implications"], ''American Asian Review'', retrieved July 7, 2006</ref>
Julie Ching (2001) has stated: "The overseas Chinese-language press has suggested that the Zhongnanhai demonstrations were actually organized in part by the government, to help trump up charges against the Falun Gong, which it had observed and monitored for years through its infiltrators. It even gives the name of a high official, [Luo] Gan, as being the chief Communist organizer of the Zhongnanhai gathering. As secretary general of the State Council, [Luo] had been investigating Falun Gong and had wanted it banned since 1996 but could not find any legal basis for transgression. In that case, it is not certain where the Falun followers intended first to make their petition, but [Luo] had the police direct them to Zhongnanhai, in order to create an incident with which they afterwards could be charged."<ref>Ching, Julie (January 1, 2001 [http://www.rickross.com/reference/fa_lun_gong/falun258.html "The Falun Gong: Religious and political implications"], ''American Asian Review'', retrieved July 7, 2006</ref>


However Master Li the founder and leader of the Falun Gong denied that the protest was organized. The Master told reporters that it was the hearts of the practitioners that assembled them. "One person would trigger another person's heart...So they all showed up. No one mobilized them, no one told them." Falun Gong’s communication and organizational ability is scary, but it is even more scary that the man who is behind it lied about everything in such a cloying manner.
On [[June 10]], [[1999]], the government established the "6-10" office<ref>Morais, Richard C. (February 9, 2006)[http://www.forbes.com/technology/2006/02/09/falun-gong-china_cz_rm_0209falungong.html "China's Fight With Falun Gong"], ''Forbes'', retrieved July 7, 2006</ref>, an extra-constitutional body, to facilitate the crackdown. Most political analysts believe that this was the direct result of events that occurred in April 1999.{{fact}}


On July 22, 1999, the government declared the practice of Falun Gong illegal.
In July 1999, the government declared the practice of Falun Gong illegal. The government had become especially concerned by reports that significant numbers of government officials, as well as military and police personnel, were practitioners. Another influence in the change in policy was the cultural memory of the [[1800s|19th century]] [[Taiping Rebellion]], when a religious cult had caused a [[civil war]].


"By unleashing a [[Mao Zedong|Mao]]-style movement [against Falun Gong], Jiang is forcing senior cadres to pledge allegiance to his line," a Communist Party veteran later told [[CNN]]'s Willy Lam. "This will boost Jiang's authority-and may give him enough momentum to enable him to dictate events at the pivotal 16th Communist Party congress next year."
"By unleashing a [[Mao Zedong|Mao]]-style movement [against Falun Gong], Jiang is forcing senior cadres to pledge allegiance to his line," a Communist Party veteran later told [[CNN]]'s Willy Lam. "This will boost Jiang's authority-and may give him enough momentum to enable him to dictate events at the pivotal 16th Communist Party congress next year."


The Falun Dafa Information Center claims that over 2300 Falun Gong practitioners have died while in police or government custody.<ref>Falun Dafa Information Center, [http://www.faluninfo.net/fdifocus.asp?FocusType=Death_Cases "Deaths in China"], retrieved July 10, 2006</ref>
The Falun Dafa Information Center claims that over 2300 Falun Gong practitioners have died while in police or government custody.<ref>Falun Dafa Information Center, [http://www.faluninfo.net/fdifocus.asp?FocusType=Death_Cases "Deaths in China"], retrieved July 10, 2006</ref>

He Zuoxiu has also accused some Falun Gong practitioners of harassment because of the articles he wrote, and published a book entitled ''How Falun Gong Harassed Me and My Family''. He Zuoxiu is a relative of [[Luo Gan]], one of the chief perpetrators of the persecution, and he is said to have "become a national hero" for opposing Falun Gong. [http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/nationprofiles/China/yan.html] Therefore, some sources have suspected him of politically motivated careerism (e.g. [http://www.lib.usf.edu/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-06122003-113105/unrestricted/FalunGongInTheUS-NoahPorter-Thesis.pdf], p99).


The CPC has burned and destroyed books and other materials about Falun Gong, and blocked access to internet resources about the topic. Treatment of Falun Gong practitioners has been regarded by some in the West as a major international human rights issue affecting freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
The CPC has burned and destroyed books and other materials about Falun Gong, and blocked access to internet resources about the topic. Treatment of Falun Gong practitioners has been regarded by some in the West as a major international human rights issue affecting freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
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===The Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident===
===The Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident===
[[Image:TiananmenSquareFalseFire.gif|right|frame|[[Slow motion]] of video broadcasted by Xinhua News Agency shows an object bouncing off Liu Chunling's head or neck before she suddenly collapses.]]


The campaign of government criticism increased in January 2001, when persons whom the government claimed were Falun Gong practitioners, among them a 13-year-old girl, Liu Siying, doused themselves with [[gasoline]] and set themselves on fire in [[Tiananmen Square]]. Videos of the incident were widely broadcast on Chinese state television, as were interviews with Siying, who was horribly burned and whose mother, Liu Chunling, did not survive the incident. Falun Gong advocates emphatically deny that the people who set themselves on fire could have been actual practitioners. [http://faluninfo.net/DisplayAnArticle.asp?ID=3641]
The campaign of government criticism increased in January 2001, when persons whom the government claimed were Falun Gong practitioners, among them a 13-year-old girl, Liu Siying, doused themselves with [[gasoline]] and set themselves on fire in [[Tiananmen Square]]. Videos of the incident were widely broadcast on Chinese state television, as were interviews with Siying, who was horribly burned and whose mother, Liu Chunling, did not survive the incident. Falun Gong advocates emphatically deny that the people who set themselves on fire could have been actual practitioners. [http://faluninfo.net/DisplayAnArticle.asp?ID=3641]
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Though the Chinese media claimed that it was CNN journalists who recorded the close-up shots, the head of the International Department of CNN stated that CNN did not film anything because at the very beginning of the incident, CNN reporters were arrested and their equipment confiscated. However, in the CNN original report the CNN reporters were able to film the scene[http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/01/24/asia.falun.03/]. Authorities did not allow any reporters other than those from the Xinhua News Agency to interview 13-year-old Siying, nor did they allow any of her family members to visit. Two months after the incident in Tiananmen Square, the hospital announced the sudden death of Siying.
Though the Chinese media claimed that it was CNN journalists who recorded the close-up shots, the head of the International Department of CNN stated that CNN did not film anything because at the very beginning of the incident, CNN reporters were arrested and their equipment confiscated. However, in the CNN original report the CNN reporters were able to film the scene[http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/01/24/asia.falun.03/]. Authorities did not allow any reporters other than those from the Xinhua News Agency to interview 13-year-old Siying, nor did they allow any of her family members to visit. Two months after the incident in Tiananmen Square, the hospital announced the sudden death of Siying.


In slow motion footage made available by [http://www.faluninfo.net/tiananmen/immolation.asp Falun Dafa Information Center] and [http://media.minghui.org/media/video/immolation_doubts_broadband.zip Ming Hui Net (chinese language website)] of the video broadcast by State-run Xinhua News Agency, an object might be seen flying off Liu Chunling's head or neck just before she suddenly collapses. Charles A Radin of Boston Globe says: ''"In the slowed version, it appears that Liu Chunling, one of two people who died, collapsed not from the flames but from being bludgeoned by a man in a military overcoat.”[http://www.faluninfo.net/tiananmen/immolation.asp]'' An analysis, published by Falun Dafa Information Center, also says that the [[body language]] of the policemen suggests foul-play. In addition, the analysis also points out: The burn victims seem to be wearing protective clothing, has unburnt hair, and the green plastic bottle that supposedly carried the gasoline was not even burned.[http://www.faluninfo.net/tiananmen/immolation.asp]
In slow motion footage made available by [http://www.faluninfo.net/tiananmen/immolation.asp Falun Dafa Information Center] and [http://media.minghui.org/media/video/immolation_doubts_broadband.zip Ming Hui Net (chinese language website)] of the video broadcast by State-run Xinhua News Agency, an object might be seen flying off Liu Chunling's head or neck just before she suddenly collapses. Charles A Radin of Boston Globe says: ''"In the slowed version, it appears that Liu Chunling, one of two people who died, collapsed not from the flames but from being bludgeoned by a man in a military overcoat.”[http://www.faluninfo.net/tiananmen/immolation.asp]'' An analysis, self published by Falun Gong, also says that the [[body language]] of the policemen suggests foul-play. In addition, the analysis also points out: The burn victims seem to be wearing protective clothing, has unburnt hair, and the green plastic bottle that supposedly carried the gasoline was not even burned.[http://www.faluninfo.net/tiananmen/immolation.asp]
According to Chandra D Smith's paper in the Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion<ref>Smith, Chrandra D. (October 2004) [http://www-camlaw.rutgers.edu/publications/law-religion/new_devs/RJLR_ND_66.pdf "Chinese Persecution of Falun Gong"], retrieved July 8, 2006</ref>,''The propaganda capitalized on the alleged self-immolation of five Falun Gong members in Tiananmen Square on January 23, 2001 in which a mother died and her 12-year-old daughter was severely burned. “By repeatedly broadcasting images of the girl’s burning body and interviews with the others saying they believed self-immolation would lead them to paradise, the government convinced many Chinese that Falun Gong was an ‘evil cult.’”''
According to Chandra D Smith's paper in the Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion<ref>Smith, Chrandra D. (October 2004) [http://www-camlaw.rutgers.edu/publications/law-religion/new_devs/RJLR_ND_66.pdf "Chinese Persecution of Falun Gong"], retrieved July 8, 2006</ref>,''The propaganda capitalized on the alleged self-immolation of five Falun Gong members in Tiananmen Square on January 23, 2001 in which a mother died and her 12-year-old daughter was severely burned. “By repeatedly broadcasting images of the girl’s burning body and interviews with the others saying they believed self-immolation would lead them to paradise, the government convinced many Chinese that Falun Gong was an ‘evil cult.’”''


==Allegations of organ harvesting==
==Allegations of organ harvesting==
On [[9 March]][[2006]], allegations were made of deaths at the Sujiatun detention compound, an alleged labor camp and part of the China Traditional Medicine Thrombosis Treatment Center located in Shenyang City, Liaoning province. According to at least two witnesses interviewed by The Epoch Times, internal organs of living Falun Gong practitioners have been harvested and sold to the black market, and the bodies have been cremated in the hospital's boiler room. The witnesses make allegations of nobody coming out of the camp alive, as well as six thousand practitioners being held captive at the hospital since 2001, two-thirds of them have died to date. According to these sources, removed organs include hearts, kidneys, livers and cornea. The news were quickly covered by some minor media outlets, including the Metro newspaper in Spain and Holland's APS.
On [[9 March]][[2006]], allegations were made of deaths at the Sujiatun detention compound, an alleged labor camp and part of the China Traditional Medicine Thrombosis Treatment Center located in Shenyang City, Liaoning province. According to at least two witnesses interviewed by The Epoch Times a newspaper established by the Falun Gong, internal organs of living Falun Gong practitioners have been harvested and sold to the black market, and the bodies have been cremated in the hospital's boiler room.[http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-3-17/39405.html] The witnesses make allegations of nobody coming out of the camp alive, as well as six thousand practitioners being held captive at the hospital since 2001, two-thirds of them have died to date. For more information please click [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sujiatun here]


==The cruelty of Falun Gong leadership==
The World Organization to Investigate the Persectution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), an organization "initiated" by Falun Gong<ref>Brian Adeba (July 12, 2006) [http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=2006/july/12/falungong/ "How Falun Gong Reached the Media Over Organ Harvesting"], ''Embassy'', retrieved July 13, 2006</ref>, providing evidence for organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners, have released recordings of telephone messages.<ref>World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, [http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/en/index2.php?option=content&task=view&id=168&pop=1&page=0 "Telephone Messages: Evidences of Harvesting Organs from Live Falun Gong Practitioners in China"], retrieved July 6, 2006</ref>
Transcription of a telephone message recorded by WOIPFG says:
<blockquote>
''A: Hi. Is this Zhongguo Medical University’s Director Song?''
</blockquote><blockquote>
''B: Yes, please speak...''
</blockquote><blockquote>
''A: …..His doctor told him that the kidney is quite good because he''
''practices gong(=qigong). Then asked which qigong? He said''
''Falun gong. People know that when practising Falun Gong the health'' ''would be better.''
</blockquote><blockquote>
''B: Of course. We have all those who breathe and with heart beat. We'' ''have these. Up until now, for this year, we have more than 10'' ''hearts, more than 10 such hearts.''
</blockquote><blockquote>
''A: More than 10 of this kind of hearts? You meant live bodies?''
</blockquote><blockquote>
''B: Yes, it’s so.''
</blockquote><blockquote>
( '''''Dated: March 30, 2006''''' )
</blockquote>


In the West, practitioners are perceived as heroic and admirable for daring to demand human rights from an authoritarian government. However, these heroes are really compelled by fear or baited by the spell their Master casts. Li’s scolding of those who have failed to break away from their family (Li calls it break away from humanness) attachment reveals all:
According to The Epoch Times, Timothy Cooper, the executive director of Worldrights, said in a [[Washington D.C.]] rally against alleged Chinese human rights violations on March 12<ref>CSN (March 13, 2006) [http://www.chinasupport.net/site.php?page=news03130601 "Washington and Hong Kong rallies cap off a busy week in China / freedom issues"], ''China Support Network'', retreived July 7, 2006</ref>: "If what has been reported is accurate, then Shenyang has become the [[Auschwitz]] of China. But this time, unlike the situation during the [[Second World War]] in [[Nazi Germany]], America must not fail to act. America must not fail to confront these atrocities — unimaginable in any civilized society" and "A whole new level of depravity is being practiced by the CPC." Also, Nina Shea from [[Freedom House]] has called for investigation of the case
:Some of the people [practitioners]…have had their lives extended through the Fa; some of them have received all kinds of benefits, such as good health, harmony in the family, indirect benefits to their relatives and friends, a reduction of their karma, and even Master’s bearing things for them… Despite this, when Dafa is about to consummate you, you are unable to step forward from humanness, and when the evil persecutes Dafa you are unable to stand up to validate Dafa. These people who only want to take from Dafa and not give for Dafa are, in the eyes of Gods, the worst beings. Moreover, this Fa is what’s fundamental in the cosmos, so those people who are still unable to step forward today will be weeded out after this tribulation is over.”[http://www.falundafa.org/book/eng/jjyz2_25.htm]
<ref>Shea, Nina (March 16, 2006) [http://wwwa.house.gov/international_relations/109/she031606.pdf "Testimony of Nina Shea, Director Center for Religious Freedom, Freedom House Before the COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS"], ''wwwa.house.gov'', retreived July 7, 2006</ref>. Guido Tastenhoye, a member of the Belgian parliament, has questioned Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel De Gucht about the imprisonment of Falun Gong practitioners in Sujiatun. <ref>Belgium Senate (April 20, 2006) [http://www.senate.be/crv/3-159.html "Belgium Senate Session ordinaire 2005-2006"], ''www.senate.be'', retreived July 7, 2006</ref> Worldrights and Freedom House themselves have not covered any of the above in their websites and press releases.


Reaching consummation is the goal of Falun Gong cultivation; practitioners are taught that they will become gods or Buddhas living in heaven. Li’s statement reveals a circumstance that the West does not see: these practitioners were not driven by their love of human rights but by Li's promises of heaven or threats of hell.
[[The Washington Times]] covered the allegations on [[24 March]] [[2006]] in an article by [[Bill Gertz]]. According to the article, Jin Zhong (a pseudonym for the journalist who fled China recently) said he first learned of the harvesting operation between October and December. Mr Jin, who in the past has been a contributor to a Japanese news agency, calls Sujiatun "a murder sponsored by a state". Jin came across the underground detention center while researching the Chinese government's response to SARS. The article claims that several other hospital workers have also revealed details about the prisoner organ harvesting. Jin Zhong has had to hide his true identity after being threatened by Chinese government agents. He was arrested twice for his reporting and recently fled to the United States, where he hopes to seek political asylum. Jin also professes that the bodies of prisoners were burned in the boiler room of the hospital and that boiler room workers had taken jewelry and watches from the dead and sold them.<ref>Gertz, Bill (March 24, 2006) [http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060323-114842-5680r.htm "China harvesting inmates' organs, journalist says"], ''Washington Times'', retreived July 6, 2006</ref>


Olaf, what upsets me the most is the cruelty of the Falun Gong leadership toward practitioners. Li and his close associates who form the leadership have never expressed any sympathy and compassion towards practitioners in pain. In stead Li regularly scold his followers for not doing enough for him and his Dafa.
On [[28 March]], over two weeks after the allegations surfaced, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang stated: "This absurd lie is not worth refuting and no one will buy it." He also urged reporters to go to Shenyang's Sujiatun district to look into the claims.<ref>[http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/28-03-2006/77946-0 "China negatives Falun Gong allegations of organ harvesting"] (March 28, 2006) ''Pravda'', retrieved July 8, 2006</ref> However, the official website of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China made no mention of this in their coverage of the press conference.<ref>[http://www.chineseembassy.org/eng/xwfw/s2510/t243018.htm "Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang's Regular Press Conference on 28 March 2006"], ''Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China'', retreived July 8, 2006</ref>

On [[30 March]], [[Reuters]] released an article entitled "U.N. envoy looks at Falun Gong torture allegations". According to the report, the [[United Nations]] torture investigator [[Manfred Nowak]] shall be looking into the Sujiatun case. "I am presently in the process of investigating as far as I can these allegations ... If I come to the conclusion that it is a serious and well-founded allegation, then I will officially submit it to attention of the Chinese government," he told a news briefing. Nowak also stated that he found torture widespread in China when he got to visit the country in late 2005 after a decade of negotiations. Furthermore, Nowak's new report insisted on the Chinese government to abolish its "re-education through labour" system and urged authorities to release all political prisoners and people held for exercising their right to freedom of speech, assembly and religion. China has denied earlier abuse and torture charges made by Nowak and asked the U.N. envoy to "think again." [http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-03-30T155024Z_01_L30516921_RTRUKOC_0_UK-CHINA-UN-TORTURE.xml&archived]

On 30 March, Epoch Times reported that a new informant, identifying himself as a veteran military doctor in Shenyang military zone, has told about a system of similar concentration camps in China. Because the Chinese government has defined Falun Gong practitioners as class enemies, they're officially declared as felons. The informant claims: "The reports from outside China about Sujiatun Concentration Camp imprisoning Falun Gong practitioners are true, although some of the details are incorrect." He says that more than 10,000 people were detained in Sujiatun in early 2005, but now the number of detainees is maintained at 600-750. Many detainees have been transferred to other camps, especially after the news on Sujiatun was publicized. The informant also asserts that the hospital in Sujiatun is only one of 36 similar camps all over China. Jilin camp, codenamed 672-S, holds over 120,000 people, not only Falun Gong practitioners. Specially dispatched freight trains can transfer 5,000-7,000 people in one night, and everyone on the trains is handcuffed to specially designed handrails on top of the ceiling, claims the informant.

On April 1, 2006, [[The Australian]] published [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,18669046-7583,00.html initial finding from US congressional researcher] that the concentration camp allegation is substantially exaggerated.

On April 4, 2006, Falun Gong announced the establishment of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China ([[CIPFG]]) on their 'clearwisdom' website [http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2006/4/5/71624.html]. However, as of April 21, 2006, despite Qin Gang's invitation, several members have been denied visas to China according to the clearwisdom.net website [http://clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2006/4/19/72188.html].

On April 13, 2006, the official from the hospital gave the following statement: “the hospital is lacking the required facilities to conduct organ transplants and has no basement to house the Falun Gong practitioners.” [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/home/2006-04/13/content_566554.htm]. According to a document from Ministry of Health of Malaysia, this hospital--Liaoning Thrombus Medical Treatment Center--is not a state owned company but one partly invested by a Malaysian company (Country Heights Health Sanctuary). And in an official visit to China the Minister of Health of Malaysia visited the hospital in September, 2004.

On April 14, 2006, US State Department released a statement [http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=April&x=20060416141157uhyggep0.5443231&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html] [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2006/64589.htm] that "found no evidence that the site is being used for any function other than as a normal public hospital". The hospital itself was a joint venture with a Malaysian government-sponsored company[http://crc.gov.my/clinicalTrial/documents/Proposal/TCM_Stroke%20TrialProtocol%20synopsis.pdf], open to foreign visitors.

On Apr 19, 2006, UK's Sky News reporter took camera undercover inside Chinese hospitals where nurses and doctors confirm readily-available organs are taken from "prisoners" and that the hospital's abundance of "donors" is due to its close connections with Chinese security forces[http://www.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,30200-waghorn_p10864,00.html]. Sky News's Website states:
<blockquote>
''China has been accused of taking organs from executed prisoners to supply the international transplant market. British surgeons say there is evidence that prisoners are being selected as potential donors before they are killed[http://www.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,30200-waghorn_p10864,00.html].''
</blockquote>

As of April 21, 2006, despite Qin Gang's invitation, several [[CIPFG]] members have been denied visas to China according to [[The Epoch Times]][http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-4-22/40630.html].

On May 8, 2006, a press conference was held in Ottawa, Canada, in which Former chairman of Canada's Sub-Committee on Human Rights of the Committee of Foreign Affairs and former director of the Asian Pacific Division of Canada's Foreign Affairs Ministry, Mr. David Kilgour, and international human rights attorney Mr. David Matas, announced that they will jointly lead the efforts to investigate the organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners by the Communist Party of China. Mr. Kilgour stated that he wished the investigation to be completely independent. As of the press conference, the plan includes interviewing witnesses and telephone investigators from the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, as well as going to China to conduct on-site investigations[http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060508/china_organ_harvesting_060508/20060509/]

Some human rights activists are also skeptical of Falun Gong's claims. [[Harry Wu]], best known for his investigations of [[Laogai]] and alleged organ harvesting of executed prisoners, claimed that the allegations were just heresay. "No pictures, no witnesses, no paperwork, no detailed information at all, nothing." [http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/bc.cgi?bc/bccn/0606/07chinese]

On June 13, 2006, Edward McMillan-Scott, vice president of the European Parliament, wrote what he heard from Falun Gong practitioners on secret atrocities of Chinese regime <ref name="yst06"> McMillan-Scott, Edward (June 13, 2006) [http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=97&ArticleID=1560709 "Secret atrocities of Chinese regime"], ''Yorkshire Post Today: Columnists'', retreived June 28, 2006</ref>.
<blockquote>
Nearly 400 hospitals in China share the booming trade in transplants, with websites advertising new kidneys for $60,000. Administrators tell inquirers: "Yes, it will be a Falun Gong, so it will be clean."
</blockquote>
The two people he interviewed in China were missing after meeting with him <ref name="yst06"/>.

On July 6, 2006, [[David Kilgour]], a former [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] [[Minister (government)|cabinet minister]] in Canada, and David Matas, an immigration lawyer<ref>Merritt, Brookes (June 23, 2006) [http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2006/06/23/1650160.html "Organs harvested from Falun Gong prisoners, Kilgour says--'Wait to be butchered for highest bidder'"], ''Edmontonsun.com'', retrieved July 8, 2006</ref>, after two months of interviewing people in Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia, announced that they had found "credible evidence that the organs of Falun Gong adherents in China are being harvested for paid transplants." <ref>Clark, Campbell (July 6, 2006) [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060706.FALUN06/TPStory/National "China harvesting organs, Canadians say"], ''[[Globe and Mail]]'', retrieved July 6, 2006</ref>
<ref>Canadian Press (July 6, 2006) [http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=432dfdf7-9767-46b9-a210-65ff388d823f&k=17423 "Report claims China kills prisoners to harvest organs for transplant"], ''Canada.com'', retrieved July 6, 2006</ref><ref>AFP (July 6, 2006) [http://www.todayonline.com/articles/129145.asp "Report alleges China harvests body parts from live inmates"], ''Todayonline.com'', retrieved July 7, 2006</ref><ref>Kirstin Endemann and Darah Hansen, Canwest News Service; Vancouver Sun (July 6, 2006) [http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=113b19b5-9147-4190-a0e6-e831b307d08d&k=83776 "China kills Falun Gong members for organs, ex-MP says"], ''Canada.com'', retrieved July 6, 2006</ref>

During the press conference on July 6, 2006, they presented their 68-page long report<ref name="MatasKilgourJuly06">David Matas and David Kilgour (July 6, 2006) [http://investigation.redirectme.net/ "Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China"], ''investigation.redirectme.net'', retrieved July 6, 2006</ref><ref name="MercatorNetJuly06">[http://www.mercatornet.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=321 "Are Chinese doctors harvesting organs from Falun Gong prisoners?"], MercatorNet, retrieved July 17, 2006</ref>
<ref>CBC News (July 6, 2006) [http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/07/06/china-falungong.html "China harvesting Falun Gong organs, report alleges"], ''CBC News'', retrieved July 6, 2006</ref>.

In the report, phone transcripts were provided to Matas and Kilgour by World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong<ref>Matas and Kilgour (July 6, 2006)[http://investigation.redirectme.net/ "REPORT INTO ALLEGATIONS OF ORGAN HARVESTING OF FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS IN CHINA"], ''Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China'', retrieved July 13, 2006</ref>.

One transcript of their phone calls to Chinese doctors reads<ref name="MatasKilgourJuly06"/>:
<blockquote>
*Q: "How many Falun Gong suppliers under the age of 40 do you have?
*A: "Quite a few."
*Q: "It (the organ) was from healthy Falun Gong practitioners?"
*A: "Correct, we would choose the good ones because we ensure the quality in our operation."
*Q: "You choose the organs yourself?"
*A: "Correct."
</blockquote>

Another transcript of their phone calls to a Mr. Li in the Mishan City Detention Center in Heilongjiang province reads <ref name="reutersJuly6">Reuters (July 6, 2006)[http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2006/07/06/team_says_china_harvests_falun_gong_organs/ "Team says China harvests Falun Gong organs"], ''boston.com'', retrieved July 8, 2006</ref><ref>CTV.ca News Staff (July 4, 2006) [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060703/MP_organs_060703/20060704?hub=Canada "China involved in harvesting organs: Cdn. report"], ''CTV.ca'', retrieved July 6, 2006</ref>:

<blockquote>

"Do you have Falun Gong organ suppliers?"

"We used to have, yes."

"What about now?"

"Yes."
</blockquote>


Giving up the Falun Gong under any circumstance is a sin, a disgrace according to Li: “Some students haven’t been able to endure amidst the agony of the persecution, and have done what a Dafa disciple absolutely should not and cannot do. That is a disgrace to Dafa.” He followed it up by explaining why willing to die for the Falun Gong benefits practitioners themselves:
On July 6, 2006, Matas told reporters that China, which has repeatedly denied similar allegations<ref>Canadian Press (July 7, 2006) [http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=432dfdf7-9767-46b9-a210-65ff388d823f&k=17423 "Report claims China kills prisoners to harvest organs for transplant"], ''canada.com'', retrieved July 8, 2006</ref><ref name="ctvJuly06">CTV.ca News Staff (July 6, 2006) [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060706/organ_report060706/20060706?hub=Canada "Chinese embassy denies organ harvesting report"], ''CTV.ca'', retrieved July 8, 2006</ref>, refused entry to both to investigate the claims further
:If your righteous thoughts are truly strong, if you're able to put aside the thought of life and death, and if you're solid and unshakable like diamond, then those evil beings [Chinese authorities] won't dare to touch you, because they know that other than killing you any type of persecution will be useless. The evil will have no choice but to leave you alone. If in this scenario the evil still persecutes you, then Master will show no leniency. Master has countless Law Bodies, and on top of this, there are countless righteous Gods helping me do things, and they will directly eliminate the evil, too. Didn't I tell you before that each of you Dafa disciples has eight types of Heavenly Law-Guardians protecting you? It's all because you haven't done well enough that all these Gods are being restrained by the old cosmos’s Fa-principles and can’t do anything, despite their really wanting to help.[http://clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/4/14/2002natourlect.html]
<ref>AFP(July 6, 2006)[http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1964180,00.html "China 'harvests live organs'"], ''News24.com'', retrieved July 7, 2006</ref>.


So, when practitioners suffer they should blame themselves for not being worthy of the Master’s divine protection. Safety, not consummation is guaranteed here but only when one is willing to give up his or her life. Apparently, Li has thought of every angel to convince followers to “willingly” die for him.
The report supports the allegations of China's harvesting organs from live Falun Gong practitioners and calls for international concerns<ref>Kirstin Endemann, CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen (July 6, 2006)[http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=290fed94-d0c2-4265-8686-54ce75d08eca&k=34245 "Ottawa urged to stop Canadians travelling to China for transplants"], ''Canada.com'', retrieved July 6, 2006</ref><ref>Reuters, AP (July 8, 2006)[http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/falun-gong-organ-claim-supported/2006/07/07/1152240489760.html "Falun Gong organ claim supported"],''The Age'', retrieved July 7, 2006</ref><ref>Reuters (July 8, 2006)[http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10390255 "Report backs organ harvest claim"],''NZHerald.co.nz Weekend Herald'', retrieved July 7, 2006</ref><ref>
Calgary Herald (July 5, 2006)[http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=c990936c-e208-4601-888f-810ff73bd994 "Rights concerns bedevil China--Doing trade with regime must be balanced with values"],''Canada.com'', retrieved July 8, 2006</ref> "Believe me, I used to be a prosecutor. I knew there would be cynicism and I did my utmost to make sure that everything was satisfactorily and properly and ethically done," Kilgour said. "Our findings are shocking. To us, this is a form of evil we have yet to see on this planet," Matas said the live organ harvesting practice amounted to a crime against humanity.<ref name="reutersJuly6"/>


Craig S. Smith from the New York Times noticed the lack of concern for the well being of practitioners from their Master. He reportes “Mr. Li's cryptic exhortations to followers on the Falun Gong Web site have grown increasingly strident, chastising those people who cannot endure torture or even death in defense of his cosmology, which holds that Falun Gong is engaged in a struggle with evil beings for the redemption or destruction of the universe. "Even if a dafa cultivator truly casts off his human skin during the persecution, what awaits him is still consummation," Mr. Li wrote a few days after the labor camp deaths. Dafa means great law or dharma, and refers to Falun Gong, which can be translated as Law Wheel Practice. Consummation is an apparently transcendent event that is the goal of all followers. "Any fear is itself a barrier that prevents you from reaching consummation," Mr. Li wrote.” [http://www.rickross.com/reference/fa_lun_gong/falun233.html]
On July 20, 2006, two members of the Canadian independent investigation team, David Kilgour and David Matas, held a press conference at the National Press Club. They announced their two-month investigation into allegations of the CCP's organ removal from Falun Gong practitioners and answered questions from participants. Their independent investigation verifies the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) atrocities of organ removal from living practitioners and caught the attention of the international community and media. <ref>US Newswire(July 20, 2006) [http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=69292 "Independent Investigators to Present Findings From Investigation on China's Organ Harvesting From Prisoners of Conscience"], ''US Newswire'', retrieved July 26, 2006</ref>


== Related Legal cases==
== Related Legal cases==

Revision as of 18:41, 26 July 2006

Beginning of the conflict

File:Arrest of Falun Gong Practitioners.jpg
Arrest of People practicing the 5th. exercise in China
File:Tianamen beating.jpg
Arrest of Falun Gong Practitioners in Beijing

The conflict between the Chinese government and the Falun Gong was initiated by Falun Gong's suppression of its critics. Due to the size of these protests – often thousands of practitioners at a time – the media companies often gave in to their demands. On May 27, 1998, twelve days after the Chinese Central TV had aired a positive coverage of the Falun Gong, the Beijing Television Station aired a critical report of the Falun Gong. In that report, a professor in China’s Academy of Science accused the Falun Gong of being harmful to its followers. Soon after that, in early June, more than a thousand practitioners besieged the station for days demanding an apology. Under pressure “the TV station's chief fired the 24-year-old reporter involved and broadcast a favorable report about the group a few days later."[1]

On April 11, 1999, a retired theoretical physicist, professor He Zuoxiu, published a short article which charged that by practicing Falun Gong a young student he knew suffered mental illness. The article appeared in Science and Technology for Youth, an obscure magazine published by Tianjin College of Education, 100 miles southeast of Beijing. Eight days after its publication, Falun Gong practitioners whose feelings had been hurt by this “extremely irresponsible article” besieged the publisher’s office in a protest.14 They presented three demands to the magazine company: 1) publicly apologize to the Falun Gong organization, 2) retrieve all magazines and destroy them, 3) publish an announcement to stop anyone from reprinting the article. Days went by and, in response to a total refusal by the publisher to meet their demands, the Falun Gong protesters increased their numbers dramatically.

By April 23rd, with more than 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners now encircling its offices, the publishing company had met its breaking point – they called in the police. Later that afternoon about four hundred police came and forced the Falun Gong practitioners to leave. About one dozen practitioners who refused to leave were arrested, but the conflict didn’t end there. That night and the next day about 2,500 Falun Gong practitioners encircled the Tianjin city hall demanding the release of those practitioners. After their demand was refused they and many others went to Beijing on the 25th, directly putting pressure on the central government leaders by surrounding their compound. According to the report of one of the practitioners’ representatives who talked to the government official on that day, their demands were that the central government: 1) require the Tianjin police to release the Falun Gong practitioners as soon as possible, 2) lift the ban against publishing Zhuan Falun, 3) allow a fair and lawful environment to practice Falun Gong.[2]

For 12 hours on April 25 1999, about 10,000 people lined up along a 2 km stretch at the Central Appeal Office outside Zhongnanhai, the headquarters of Chinese government. Premier Zhu Rongji met with some representatives of the practitioners and promised to resolve the situation within three days. The practitioners dispersed peacefully after they received word that Zhu had agreed to their requests.[1] Nevertheless, it was reported that Falun Gong practitioners organizing a protest alarmed many senior leaders, particularly Jiang Zemin.[2] According to some estimates, at this time there were more than 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing.[2]

Julie Ching (2001) has stated: "The overseas Chinese-language press has suggested that the Zhongnanhai demonstrations were actually organized in part by the government, to help trump up charges against the Falun Gong, which it had observed and monitored for years through its infiltrators. It even gives the name of a high official, [Luo] Gan, as being the chief Communist organizer of the Zhongnanhai gathering. As secretary general of the State Council, [Luo] had been investigating Falun Gong and had wanted it banned since 1996 but could not find any legal basis for transgression. In that case, it is not certain where the Falun followers intended first to make their petition, but [Luo] had the police direct them to Zhongnanhai, in order to create an incident with which they afterwards could be charged."[3]

However Master Li the founder and leader of the Falun Gong denied that the protest was organized. The Master told reporters that it was the hearts of the practitioners that assembled them. "One person would trigger another person's heart...So they all showed up. No one mobilized them, no one told them." Falun Gong’s communication and organizational ability is scary, but it is even more scary that the man who is behind it lied about everything in such a cloying manner.

On July 22, 1999, the government declared the practice of Falun Gong illegal.

"By unleashing a Mao-style movement [against Falun Gong], Jiang is forcing senior cadres to pledge allegiance to his line," a Communist Party veteran later told CNN's Willy Lam. "This will boost Jiang's authority-and may give him enough momentum to enable him to dictate events at the pivotal 16th Communist Party congress next year."

The Falun Dafa Information Center claims that over 2300 Falun Gong practitioners have died while in police or government custody.[4]

The CPC has burned and destroyed books and other materials about Falun Gong, and blocked access to internet resources about the topic. Treatment of Falun Gong practitioners has been regarded by some in the West as a major international human rights issue affecting freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

The media war

The People's Republic of China (PRC), led by the Communist Party of China (CPC) on July 20, 1999, began a nation-wide suppression of Falun Gong, referring to the practice as an "evil cult" spreading superstition to deceive people. Jiang, the former leader of the CPC, condemned the group in the state-controlled media, stating a position the Chinese government promotes to this day.

CPC claims that the practice has deviated its focus from engaging in spiritual cultivation to engaging in politics, basing their opinions on the existence of numerous websites disparate from, yet in support of, Falun Gong (such as Friends of Falun Gong).

In China, the CPC has blocked access to certain sites on the Internet (including this article, see History of Wikipedia), all Falun Gong Websites[3] and burned Falun Gong's books and materials. In addition, some junk mail filters are targeting [4] emails related to the Falun Gong spiritual movement and other dissidents[5].

On the other hand, there have been incidents in which China's state-owned television networks were jammed with reports on the persecution of Falun Gong. In addition, a syndicated Chinese language newspaper with worldwide circulation, The Epoch Times, is accused of having a pro-Falun Gong platform, mainly because it has been the mouthpiece of much of Falun Gong's claims of suppression and torture, but also partly because it has published articles suggesting a declining state in the CPC. These articles include Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party of China(jiuping), New Zealand to Celebrate 7 Million Renouncing Communist Party of China, and others [6].

According to ClearWisdom.net, eight Falun Gong practitioners were arrested after one of the jamming incidents in Changchun city, including Liu Chengjun, who was allegedly tortured to death after 21 months incarceration in Jilin Prison.

The Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident

The campaign of government criticism increased in January 2001, when persons whom the government claimed were Falun Gong practitioners, among them a 13-year-old girl, Liu Siying, doused themselves with gasoline and set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square. Videos of the incident were widely broadcast on Chinese state television, as were interviews with Siying, who was horribly burned and whose mother, Liu Chunling, did not survive the incident. Falun Gong advocates emphatically deny that the people who set themselves on fire could have been actual practitioners. [7]

On the same day, the Falun Dafa Information Center made an announcement entitled, "China Staged Self-Immolation Act; Xinhua News Framed Falun Gong with Slanderous Lies, calling for a third-party independent investigation to uncover the truth." However, according to a Time article [8], "A Beijing arm of the outlawed spiritual group Falun Gong strongly suggested the protesters, one of whom died, were devotees. "We heeded a call from our master to strengthen our fight against evil," said a member of the group based in the Chinese capital.". "Yet hours later, Falun Gong's New York head office distanced itself from the act: This so-called suicide attempt on Tiananmen Square has nothing to do with Falun Gong practitioners because the teachings of Falun Gong prohibit any form of killing. "

Though the Chinese media claimed that it was CNN journalists who recorded the close-up shots, the head of the International Department of CNN stated that CNN did not film anything because at the very beginning of the incident, CNN reporters were arrested and their equipment confiscated. However, in the CNN original report the CNN reporters were able to film the scene[9]. Authorities did not allow any reporters other than those from the Xinhua News Agency to interview 13-year-old Siying, nor did they allow any of her family members to visit. Two months after the incident in Tiananmen Square, the hospital announced the sudden death of Siying.

In slow motion footage made available by Falun Dafa Information Center and Ming Hui Net (chinese language website) of the video broadcast by State-run Xinhua News Agency, an object might be seen flying off Liu Chunling's head or neck just before she suddenly collapses. Charles A Radin of Boston Globe says: "In the slowed version, it appears that Liu Chunling, one of two people who died, collapsed not from the flames but from being bludgeoned by a man in a military overcoat.”[10] An analysis, self published by Falun Gong, also says that the body language of the policemen suggests foul-play. In addition, the analysis also points out: The burn victims seem to be wearing protective clothing, has unburnt hair, and the green plastic bottle that supposedly carried the gasoline was not even burned.[11] According to Chandra D Smith's paper in the Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion[5],The propaganda capitalized on the alleged self-immolation of five Falun Gong members in Tiananmen Square on January 23, 2001 in which a mother died and her 12-year-old daughter was severely burned. “By repeatedly broadcasting images of the girl’s burning body and interviews with the others saying they believed self-immolation would lead them to paradise, the government convinced many Chinese that Falun Gong was an ‘evil cult.’”

Allegations of organ harvesting

On 9 March2006, allegations were made of deaths at the Sujiatun detention compound, an alleged labor camp and part of the China Traditional Medicine Thrombosis Treatment Center located in Shenyang City, Liaoning province. According to at least two witnesses interviewed by The Epoch Times a newspaper established by the Falun Gong, internal organs of living Falun Gong practitioners have been harvested and sold to the black market, and the bodies have been cremated in the hospital's boiler room.[12] The witnesses make allegations of nobody coming out of the camp alive, as well as six thousand practitioners being held captive at the hospital since 2001, two-thirds of them have died to date. For more information please click here

The cruelty of Falun Gong leadership

In the West, practitioners are perceived as heroic and admirable for daring to demand human rights from an authoritarian government. However, these heroes are really compelled by fear or baited by the spell their Master casts. Li’s scolding of those who have failed to break away from their family (Li calls it break away from humanness) attachment reveals all:

Some of the people [practitioners]…have had their lives extended through the Fa; some of them have received all kinds of benefits, such as good health, harmony in the family, indirect benefits to their relatives and friends, a reduction of their karma, and even Master’s bearing things for them… Despite this, when Dafa is about to consummate you, you are unable to step forward from humanness, and when the evil persecutes Dafa you are unable to stand up to validate Dafa. These people who only want to take from Dafa and not give for Dafa are, in the eyes of Gods, the worst beings. Moreover, this Fa is what’s fundamental in the cosmos, so those people who are still unable to step forward today will be weeded out after this tribulation is over.”[13]

Reaching consummation is the goal of Falun Gong cultivation; practitioners are taught that they will become gods or Buddhas living in heaven. Li’s statement reveals a circumstance that the West does not see: these practitioners were not driven by their love of human rights but by Li's promises of heaven or threats of hell.

Olaf, what upsets me the most is the cruelty of the Falun Gong leadership toward practitioners. Li and his close associates who form the leadership have never expressed any sympathy and compassion towards practitioners in pain. In stead Li regularly scold his followers for not doing enough for him and his Dafa.

Giving up the Falun Gong under any circumstance is a sin, a disgrace according to Li: “Some students haven’t been able to endure amidst the agony of the persecution, and have done what a Dafa disciple absolutely should not and cannot do. That is a disgrace to Dafa.” He followed it up by explaining why willing to die for the Falun Gong benefits practitioners themselves:

If your righteous thoughts are truly strong, if you're able to put aside the thought of life and death, and if you're solid and unshakable like diamond, then those evil beings [Chinese authorities] won't dare to touch you, because they know that other than killing you any type of persecution will be useless. The evil will have no choice but to leave you alone. If in this scenario the evil still persecutes you, then Master will show no leniency. Master has countless Law Bodies, and on top of this, there are countless righteous Gods helping me do things, and they will directly eliminate the evil, too. Didn't I tell you before that each of you Dafa disciples has eight types of Heavenly Law-Guardians protecting you? It's all because you haven't done well enough that all these Gods are being restrained by the old cosmos’s Fa-principles and can’t do anything, despite their really wanting to help.[14]

So, when practitioners suffer they should blame themselves for not being worthy of the Master’s divine protection. Safety, not consummation is guaranteed here but only when one is willing to give up his or her life. Apparently, Li has thought of every angel to convince followers to “willingly” die for him.

Craig S. Smith from the New York Times noticed the lack of concern for the well being of practitioners from their Master. He reportes “Mr. Li's cryptic exhortations to followers on the Falun Gong Web site have grown increasingly strident, chastising those people who cannot endure torture or even death in defense of his cosmology, which holds that Falun Gong is engaged in a struggle with evil beings for the redemption or destruction of the universe. "Even if a dafa cultivator truly casts off his human skin during the persecution, what awaits him is still consummation," Mr. Li wrote a few days after the labor camp deaths. Dafa means great law or dharma, and refers to Falun Gong, which can be translated as Law Wheel Practice. Consummation is an apparently transcendent event that is the goal of all followers. "Any fear is itself a barrier that prevents you from reaching consummation," Mr. Li wrote.” [15]

References

  1. ^ Smith, Chrandra D. (March 11, 2003) "Chinese Persecution of Falun Gong", Rutgers J. of L. & Relig. New Dev.66, retreived July 14, 2006
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ReidG was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Ching, Julie (January 1, 2001 "The Falun Gong: Religious and political implications", American Asian Review, retrieved July 7, 2006
  4. ^ Falun Dafa Information Center, "Deaths in China", retrieved July 10, 2006
  5. ^ Smith, Chrandra D. (October 2004) "Chinese Persecution of Falun Gong", retrieved July 8, 2006
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Falun_Gong&oldid=66007288"