United Kingdom: Falun Gong Practitioner Interviewed by the BBC About Human Rights Issues in China

On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the ‘6.4’ event, a London Falun Gong practitioner was interviewed by the BBC regarding China’s human rights issues. It has been fifteen years since the brutal massacre in Tiananmen Square. The western world is very concerned over whether China’s human rights record has improved.

The reporter mentioned that he interviewed Mr Li Hongzhi in 1993 in Beijing. He could not understand why the Chinese regime would start the persecution of Falun Gong. He was shocked when he realised how many thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been sent to slave labour camps, placed in mental hospitals, tortured to death and driven away from their homes, and that some of them were forced to become homeless because of their belief in Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. He was also surprised that the persecution conducted by the Jiang group targets a hundred million Falun Gong practitioners. This left an obvious answer to the question of whether China’s human rights record has improved since the ‘6.4' event fifteen years ago.

When the reporter asked, "How do you feel about freedom of conscience being suppressed in this way in China at a time when the country is on the way to a dominant world position?" The practitioner replied, "Very sad. I feel that the whole world has been deceived. It also shows how important the media can be. If the western media all dared to speak out and report the true human rights situation in China, it would facilitate an improvement in China’s human rights record." The reporter agreed. This interview will be shown on BBC TV world service.