United States: Falun Gong Practitioners from Philadelphia Hold Press Conference to Call for Support for the U.N. Resolution on China's Human Rights Situation

According to the U.S. State Department spokesman Mr. Richard Boucher, the United States will introduce a resolution regarding China's human rights practices at the 2004 U.N. Commission on Human Rights meeting in Geneva, which began on March 15 and will conclude on April 23. On March 31, 2004, Falun Gong practitioners from Metropolitan Philadelphia held a press conference at the Liberty Bell Memorial Plaza in downtown to call upon members of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights to support this resolution and help China to improve its human rights situation. Practitioners also called for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong.

Ms. Qiu Qingqing (right hand side) holding her younger sister Ms. Qiu Yanyan's photo; Dr. Yang Jingduan holding his elder sister Ms. Yang Jingfang's photo	Mr. Chen Gang (left hand side) accepting interview from KYW radio station.

Western Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Yvette Scarletts hosted the conference. She talked about the persecution of Falun Gong, and called for support of the U.N. resolution on China's human rights and for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong.

Several family members of the persecuted Falun Gong practitioners and some who had personally suffered from the persecution spoke at the conference. Local practitioner Dr. Qiu Qingqing's younger sister Ms. Qiu Yanyan was unlawfully sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in a Chinese labour camp on March 26. Dr. Qiu Qingqing will fly to Geneva to attend the U.N. Commission on Human Rights meeting. She will testify to the persecution encountered by her sister and call for the release of her sister Qiu Yanyan.

On February 4, Qiu Yanyan was abducted at her workplace in Beijing, simply because of her practice of Falun Gong. Her home was ransacked and her Falun Gong books and audiotapes, computer, printer and passport were confiscated. Qiu Yanyan graduated from the prestigious Peking University. She can speak German, English and Urdu fluently. In her work, she disciplines herself well with Falun Dafa principles and seeks no fame or self-interest. Many times, she refused to accept improper payments and bonuses. She is well known in her work unit for her high professional skill and outstanding character. With her company's research teams, she went abroad many times to visit foreign companies. She has also financially supported a child from a poor family who could not afford to go to school.

Dr. Qiu Qingqing said that on March 26, the Police Sub-station of the Chaoyang District, Beijing sentenced Mr. Qiu Yanyan to two years and six months in a labour camp without any legal procedure. "My family was not informed about the sentence. My mother learned the news from other channels. My mother has not received any official notice up to present." Said Qiu Qingqing. "In China, many people know about the persecution of Falun Gong, but few know how severe the persecution is. Most people think that as long as practitioners practice Falun Gong at home, they would be fine. But the reality is, practitioners are arrested even if they practice or read Falun Gong books at home. The persecution is extremely cruel and far-reaching."

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Chen Gang will also fly to Geneva to bear witness about the inhuman tortures the Jiang's regime has subjected Falun Gong practitioners to. Because of his practice of Falun Gong, his home was ransacked twice. He was also imprisoned in Beijing Tuanhe Labour Camp for 18 months, where he was brutally tortured. He was deprived of sleep for 15 days in a row. The jailers even tied up his hands and feet together and put him under a bed. The torture almost paralyzed him, and he was on the verge of mental collapse.

Philadelphia psychiatrist Yang Jingduan's elder sister Ms. Yang Jingfang was also illegally sentenced to 3 years in prison in China because of her practice of Falun Gong. So far, she has been imprisoned for 18 months. She was once tied up in a chair for 34 days in a row. According to Dr. Yang Jingduan, in August 2002, at the General Assembly of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) held in Yokohama, Japan, the WPA voted to send an international delegation of psychiatrists to Beijing, China on April 4 to investigate the government's alleged abuses of psychiatric diagnoses in its ongoing suppression of Falun Gong practitioners. However, the president of WPA received a letter from the President of Chinese Society of Psychiatrists and had to cancel the mission.

Philadelphia Daily News, KYW radio station, New Tang Dynasty TV, World Journal and Epoch Times came to the press conference. Many people expressed their sympathy after they heard about the brutality of the persecution. Seeing the persecuted practitioners and their family members helped to erase any doubts they had about the brutality of the persecution.