Report from German newspaper Rhen Neckar: "To Help Xiong Wei"

Politicians throughout the world have repeatedly asked China to protect human rights. However, last year Ms. Xiong Wei was arrested because she distributed Falun Gong flyers [in Beijing]. Falun Gong is a peaceful, non-violent practice of meditation from the Buddha school. Both the International Society for Human Rights and Falun Gong practitioners in Weinheim city have made great efforts in their attempts to rescue Xiong Wei. Citizens in Weinheim city offered their support by signing a petition [for her release] last Saturday.

In China, hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been detained in prisons, labour camps, and re-education centres. The Chinese government regards them as “enemies” solely for political purposes. It is not only individuals who are considered so-called enemies of the Chinese communist party, but also entire groups, the public, and movements which are suspected as being anti-communist. The Falun Gong movement is also being persecuted. The Chinese government defined Falun Gong as a religion in 1999, and since then has banned the practise and started a large scale persecution killing many practitioners.

Those who are arrested experience extreme hardships. 32 year-old Xiong Wei studied at Berlin Technical University. She was arrested by police in Beijing when distributing materials about the truth of Falun Gong, after she has returned to China to work for a German company last May. Presently, she is being detained at the Xinan Female Labour Camp in Beijing. Her legal rights have all been deprived.

The International Society for Human Rights, IGFM, has called on the German government to rescue Xiong Wei. The Falun Dafa Association has also supported this plan. This organisation was formed by Falun Gong practitioners in Germany. The aims of this appeal are not only to help Ms. Xiong Wei, but also for people to express their concerns for all Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted in China, as well as the conditions of human rights in China. All citizens in Weinheim can appeal to the German government by signing their names on a Falun Gong petition. The Mayor has also already signed his name. There was also an Information Day outside the Commerce Bank on Hauptstraße Street on Saturday 26 April. The Information Day was organised by the Falun Dafa Association. Various places throughout Germany have also held similar Information Days.

The cruel torture that is occurring in Chinese prisons has terrified many people, including members of the International Society for Human Rights. The Society passed a resolution about how the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners have been seriously violated in China.”

The International Society for Human Rights has worked hard on human rights since 1972. China has trampled on the human rights [of Falun Gong practitioners] in China and the violations are as follows: Hundreds of thousands of people have been unlawfully arrested and imprisoned without professional legal aid, 500 of them have been sentenced, with sentences of 18 years imprisonment being handed down in some instances. According to reports from the International Society for Human Rights, hundreds of thousands of people have been sent to labour camps and re-education classes, where they are systematically brainwashed. Over 1,000 healthy practitioners have been sent to psychiatric hospitals and been administered with various nerve-damaging and life-threatening psychotropic drugs, which could end their lives. As of the 4th April, 641 practitioners had been verified as being tortured to death.

Translated from Chinese at http://yuanming.net/articles/200305/19925.html