FDI: Top 10 Things You Should Know about the Beijing Olympics and Falun Gong
(1) China's Olympic Committee President was found liable for torture "In an extensive legal opinion, the US District Court in San Francisco determined in 2004 that Liu Qi was responsible for the illegal detention and torture of two Chinese nationals and a sexual assault against a French woman in China." The plaintiffs, who were represented by the Centre for Justice and Accountability, presented evidence that as mayor, Liu directed security forces to violently crush Falun Gong. In addition, police under his command subjected the plaintiffs and other Falun Gong adherents in Beijing to severe beatings, sexual abuse, and 'electric shocks through needles placed in [the] body.' (2) To prepare for the Olympics, Chinese security ordered a "strike hard" against Falun Gong. "We must strike hard at hostile forces at home and abroad, such as ethnic separatists... and 'heretical organisations' like the Falun Gong." (3) Falun Gong practitioners are being killed in custody faster and more frequently than before. One of the most prominent victims was Mr. Yu Zhou, 42, a musician who was arrested with his wife Ms. Xu Na at the end of January on their way home from a performance by his band. Eleven days after their arrest, the authorities notified their family members to come to Qinghe Emergency Centre, where they found Yu already dead. He had been in good health before his detention, but the hospital refused to conduct an autopsy. Ms. Xu, who was released in 2006 after serving five years in prison for practising Falun Gong, remains in custody. According to English newspaper The Times, which reported on Yu's death: "[T]here has been lively discussion among music fans on Chinese websites over the fate of the singer Yu Zhou, 42. "Another beautiful soul has left the world," commented one distraught fan....Yu won a following among young Chinese for his mellow folk ballads. His group, Xiao Juan and Residents from the Valley, released two successful CDs and appeared on the Phoenix television channel. For more information on the recent surge in deaths in custody, see: (4) Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners around China have been arrested "in preparation" for the games. Since January, the FDIC has been receiving regular reports from adherents and their families inside China of door-to-door searches and arrests. According to statistics compiled from these reports, there have been at least 2,000 arrests across 29 provinces, major cities, and autonomous regions. In Beijing alone, over 150 arrests are known to have taken place. See: http://www.faluninfo.net/displayAnArticle.asp?ID=9517 (5) Falun Gong practitioners are officially excluded from the Games because of religious belief, in clear violation of the Olympic Charter. One official admission of the intent to exclude foreigners who practice Falun Gong from the games was provided by Li Zhanjun, director of the Beijing Olympics media centre, in November 2007. While rejecting allegations that the Chinese authorities intended to limit the entry of Bibles for personal religious use, Li singled out Falun Gong texts as an exception. As reported by the Associated Press: "We don't recognise it [Falun Gong]... So Falun Gong texts, Falun Gong activities in China are forbidden." For more information see: http://faluninfo.net/downloads/FDI_Press/FDI-FACTSHEET-OLEX.doc See also: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/08/sports/AS-SPT-OLY-Beijing-Bibles.php (6) Falun Gong has never taken a position on an Olympic boycott. What the FDIC is concerned about is the escalation of abuses and extra-judicial killings of practitioners ahead of the games, and indeed, because of the games. There is ample evidence, including points presented in this document, that shows how China's communist leaders are using the Olympic games as a reason to intensify the campaign to 'eradicate' Falun Gong. (7) A "clean up" of districts hosting Olympic venues has included the arrests of local residents who practice Falun Gong. According to reports received by the FDIC, many of the arrests have followed a common pattern. Officers from the local police station or Public Security Bureau (PSB) branch come to the adherent's home or workplace, conduct a search for any Falun Gong-related materials, and take the individual into custody at the district detention centre. In some cases, family members or co-workers who do not practice Falun Gong have been taken into custody as well. The systematic nature of the arrests suggests that authorities are using a previously compiled list of local adherents — a common practice of the PSB. According to former PSB agent Hao Fengjun, who currently resides in Australia, authorities in the city of Tianjin, where Hao formerly worked, had a database of 30,000 Falun Gong practitioners' names. For a list of 67 adherents detained in Beijing as of March 2008, including the above-mentioned 16, visit: http://www.faluninfo.net/downloads/FDI_Press/Olympics%20arrests%20-%203-12-1.pdf (8) Despite ostensibly freer regulations for foreign journalists, Falun Gong remains taboo. The following is an excerpt from a recent CPJ report illustrating the official obstacles placed before reporters seeking to cover Falun Gong: Bracing for the 21,500 accredited and 5,000 to 10,000 unaccredited foreign journalists who will descend on Beijing for the Games, China's Olympic planners have issued police an English phrase book. It gives some indication of the welcome that foreign journalists will receive. In a section titled, "How to Stop Illegal News Coverage," the practice dialogue features a police officer confronting a reporter who tries to cover a story on the outlawed religious group Falun Gong. "Excuse me, sir. Stop, please," says the officer politely but firmly, before explaining in impressively advanced English: "It's beyond the limit of your coverage and illegal. As a foreign reporter in China you should obey China law and do nothing against your status." "Oh, I see. May I go now?" says the visiting reporter hopefully. "No. Come with us," the officer is told to reply at this point. "What for?" "To clear up this matter." For the original report from which this excerpt is taken and a full discussion of press freedom violations ahead of the Olympic Games, see "Falling Short" at: http://cpj.org/Briefings/2007/Falling_Short/China/10_2.html (9) Hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners will experience the Olympics from inside labour camps, where they are often tortured. Adherents are usually picked up by police from their home, workplace, or while attempting to distribute leaflets about the practice and the persecution against it. After being held in a detention centre, they are sentenced to a labour camp. They are never brought before a judge and most are denied the right to employ a lawyer. According to Amnesty International: "The decision to assign a person to RTL is taken by the police, without charge or trial. People can be detained for up to three years, which can be extended by a further year when necessary...[I]n the lead-up to the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing police have used abusive detention practices such as RTL to 'clean up' the city." Once in a labour camp, Falun Gong adherents are beaten, deprived of sleep, and tortured, including with electric shock batons, in order to force them to recant their faith. In 2006, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture reported that Falun Gong practitioners accounted for 66 percent of victims of alleged torture in custody. For two stories Falun Gong practitioners who had been detained in an RTL, see: Daily Mirror: "Annie Yang reveals Olympic torch guards place her into labour camp": http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/04/12/annie-yang-reveals-olympic-torch-guards-place-her-into-labour-camp-89520-20380214/ For information about Bu Dongwei, a Falun Gong practitioner detained in a Beijing labour camp for whose release Amnesty International is campaigning, and to write an appeal letter on his behalf, see: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA17/052/2007/en/dom-ASA170522007en.html (10) Most Chinese are unaware of any of the above because independent information about Falun Gong remains blocked inside China. On the internet, Falun Gong and related terms remain among the most highly filtered by the "Great Chinese Firewall." According to the Committee to Protect Journalists: "A Web search for "Falun Gong," [...] would not draw a blank, but it would yield carefully vetted sites that present the government-approved line." Websites such as the FDIC's, that are run by overseas Falun Gong practitioners and include information about rights abuses, are inaccessible from inside China. So are the sites of independent rights organisations like Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch. Even discussion of the issue over Instant Messenger is prevented by filters built-in when Chinese IM software is downloaded (see below). The only way to access independent information about Falun Gong from inside China is with a proxy server used to circumvent censorship, a technological luxury that remains out of the reach of most Chinese. As a result, though they live in China, many Chinese remain oblivious to the non-violent nature of Falun Gong adherents or to the brutality meted out against them. For a brief explanation of online censorship in China, see: http://cpj.org/Briefings/2007/Falling_Short/China/9_2.html For a list of censored words integrated into downloadable IM software (20% of which relate to Falun Gong), see: FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTRE
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