Shooting in South Africa Exposes the Jiang Group's Fear and Desperation

I was deeply shocked after hearing the news on June the 28th of Australian practitioner David Liang being shot in South Africa, and that the heel bones in his right foot were shattered. I kept seeing David's face in my mind. Knowing David, I can tell you that he is a kind-hearted and upright person. Like other Falun Dafa practitioners, he adheres to the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and cultivates himself diligently. He also quietly contributes greatly in our efforts to let more people know the truth about Falun Dafa. Seeing the photos of his blood-stained feet, taken while in the hospital, I thought of his two young children and aged parents, especially his mother who is confined to bed and needs constant care. All his family depend on his income as a taxi driver.

David and eight other practitioners travelled all the way from Australia to South Africa. They had the intention to appeal peacefully and to file a lawsuit against Zeng Qinghong and Bo Xilai, the political cohorts who follow closely in the steps of former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin in his continued brutal persecution of Falun Dafa. The practitioners have no enemies in South Africa. The hired gunman didn't rob them. We can only think of one single motive. Wanting to stop the practitioners from filing the lawsuit, Jiang's group hired a gunman to shoot them. According to the practitioners who witnessed the incident from close quarters, this was not an ordinary drive-by shooting. We see this as state-sanctioned terrorism, exported to foreign soil by Zeng Qinghong. For us, this is nothing less than the persecution of Falun Gong being exported from China to South Africa.

Hiring criminals to kill is a radical form of terrorism, perpetrated by Jiang and his accomplices. It also reveals this group's fear and desperation, because they are facing one lawsuit after another for the crimes they have committed in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. On June the 10th 1999, under the tyrannical power of Jiang, a state-sanctioned terrorist organisation called the "610 Office" was established to carry out Jiang's campaing of genocide against Falun Gong. The "610 Office" functions beyond any rule of law or state regulation and has complete power over all levels of authority in China. Since July the 20th 1999, Jiang has given orders to the "610 Office" to systematically carry out the policy of "ruining their reputations, bankrupting them financially, destroying them physically" and the guidelines that "Beating them to death will not be punished," "Deaths can be counted as suicide," and "Dead bodies can be sent for cremation directly without verifying the identity." And who are the victims? Thousands of peace-loving Falun Gong practitioners!

According to incomplete statistics, we know that over a thousand practitioners have been tortured to death. Those illegally sentenced to jail terms account for nearly ten thousand practitioners. Over a hundred thousand practitioners have been sent to slave labour camps. Thousands more are detained in mental hospitals where they are injected with nerve-damaging drugs. In addition, a large number of practitioners are detained in brainwashing centres where they are subjected to mental and physical torture. The so-called law enforcement personnel have beaten an extremely large number of practitioners. They also extort heavy fines as a form of punishment.

After forbearing five years of brutal persecution, Falun Gong practitioners have demonstrated great courage and moral strength, while faced with human rights abuses and persecution of their beliefs by Jiang Zemin and his followers. Now the lawsuits against Jiang have been filed and historical symbolic trials have been performed worldwide. Ever since Jiang was sued in Chicago for charges of genocide, torture, and crimes against humanity, practitioners have filed similar lawsuits in Belgium, Spain, Germany, Korea, and Taiwan. Other high-ranking officials of the Chinese Communist Party, such as Luo Gan, Zhou Yongkang, Zhao Zhifei, Liu Qi, and Xia Deren, are also being sued worldwide. The lawsuits being filed in many countries have put deep fear into a number of high-ranking officials of the Chinese Communist Party. Many of them are looking for a way out.

Zeng Qinghong and Bo Xilai closely follow Jiang's orders to persecute Falun Gong. Both are deeply involved in the brutal repression of those who practise this peaceful meditation and exercise system. When practitioners filed lawsuits against them in the U.S. and Poland, they became frightened. Out of hatred and fear, Jiang's cohorts exported their persecution to foreign soil. The trip made by David Liang and other practitioners to South Africa was to take part in a peaceful appeal and to use legal methods to bring Jiang's accomplices, Zeng Qinghong and Bo Xilai, to justice. Yet hired gunmen shot at them and injured David. The universal principle of good being rewarded and evil being punished means that they must pay for their crimes.

Falun Gong practitioners are peaceful and rational. Yes, the bullets injured David's feet, but they will not shake practitioners' firm belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. The shooting incident can only reveal again how cruel and tyrannical Jiang' followers are. Their evil conduct must be severely condemned by the international community, and the criminals should be brought to justice. The exportation of terrorism must be stopped, and justice should be restored to Falun Gong practitioners.