Finnish Newspaper Kaleva: Hundreds of Harassing Phone Calls Target Finnish Falun Gong Practitioners

“The Foreign ministry will intervene if the Chinese Government is behind the calls.”

[Note: Starting from February 6, Falun Gong practitioners from countries all over the world became the target of a Chinese Government phone harassment campaign. In Finland and other countries of Europe, as well as in the United States and Canada, practitioners’ home, work and mobile phones received continuous pre-recorded phone calls. When answering the phone, there were either English or Chinese propaganda recordings which attacked and slandered Falun Gong. The content of the recordings was identical to the propaganda that Jiang Zemin and his cohorts have used as a part of their persecution campaign against Falun Gong.]

“Hundreds of phone calls harass Finnish Falun Gong practitioners”

Excerpts from the newspaper “Kaleva” on February 10th 2005
By Markku Rättilä & Henrik Ahola

Four Finnish practitioners of Falun Gong have been pressured with hundreds of harassing phone calls between last Sunday and Tuesday. Pre-recorded harassment calls contained strong slandering of the practice. The calls were in English and Chinese. One of the practitioners from the city of Kemi received as many as 370 phone calls.

“Practitioners from Oulu, Jyväskylä and Helsinki have also received phone calls,” says Veijo Pekkarinen from Oulu, who estimates that the number of calls has reached nearly 500. Pekkarinen says that in the previously mentioned cities practitioners have regular activities and believes that phone numbers have been taken from Falun Gong websites.

Calls All Over the World

“We filed a complaint last Monday to the Police of Oulu. Because it is a question of such a serious issue, we have also reported it to the Security Police,” says Pekkarinen.

According to Pekkarinen, the same type of phone call has been made to 12 countries, mainly in Western Europe, the United States and Australia. Practitioners’ home, work and mobile phones have been the target of automatic and continuous attacks.

Over 60 Lawsuits

Upon answering the phone, at the other end of the line runs either an English or Chinese tape-recording, which attacks Falun Gong […]. Pekkarinen believes that the reason for this aggressive tactic is that Falun Gong has been strongly bringing China’s human rights issues into the spotlight.

“There are over 60 lawsuits which have been filed in different parts of the world against those Chinese Officials who have been involved in persecuting people in China and abroad,” Pekkarinen clarifies.

Pekkarinen believes that the Chinese Government is behind the calls

“I can’t think of anyone else who would benefit from this. This is exactly the same material which the Chinese Government has been sending out at home and abroad.”

Originally published in Finnish at http://fi.clearharmony.net/articles/200502/2385.html