Norway: Anti-Torture Exhibition Receives Great Support in Stavanger

On the second Saturday in September 2005, Falun Gong practitioners in Norway arranged an anti-torture exhibition in Stavanger to make people aware of the brutal persecution against Falun Gong, which has lasted six years. This persecution was initiated by Jiang Zemin in 1999 after he found out that there were more people practising Falun Gong than there were members of the Communist Party. He saw the great number of practitioners as a threat to his personal power. Today, it is confirmed that 2,781 practitioners, both old and young, have been tortured to death at the hands of the Chinese authorities.

Practitioners demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises	Practitioners exposing torture methods used on Falun Gong practitioners in China

The anti-torture exhibition was divided into two sections. In section one, practitioners showed the five beautiful Falun Gong exercises accompanied by soft traditional Chinese music. In the second section, some practitioners had worked together to make racks to show two torture methods often used on Falun Gong practitioners in China. The torture methods are used to force practitioners to denounce Falun Gong and to cease taking Truth, Compassion and Forbearance as the guiding principles in their daily life.

The torture method "Cage"	The torture method "Hanging up"

One of the torture methods re-enacted is called "Hanging up", where the hands of a practitioner are bound together and he is suspended so that he cannot touch the floor. The practitioner sometimes faces being hung like this for several days, and several policemen torture the practitioner with batons, burn them with cigarettes or use electric batons to shock the practitioner. The practitioners often pass out because of the pain, and when they wake up again, the beating and torture continues.

Another torture method re-enacted was the "cage". Often the cage is so small that the practitioner cannot sit straight or stretch his legs. Practitioners face sitting like this for several days, often without anything to eat, drink, and without permission to go to the toilet. It is very painful. In addition, there have been reports about practitioners forced to sit in cages filled with water up to their neck, until their body started to rot. While for others, the water was filled with urine, excrement and live rats.

At the anti-torture exhibition, while some practitioners demonstrated these torture methods used against Falun Gong practitioners in China, two practitioners discussed the persecution using a loudspeaker, so that people passing could get to know how the Chinese Communist Party treats its good citizens that take Truth, Compassion and Forbearance as their guiding principles in their daily life. People in Stavanger were invited to sign two petitions; one to stop the persecution of Falun Gong in China and one to rescue the Falun Gong orphans that have lost one or both of their parents in the persecution. Many people gave their support by signing both the petitions.

People in Stavanger sign petitions to stop the persecution of Falun Gong in China, and to rescue Falun Gong orphans that are suffering in this persecution.

Originally published in Norwegian at http://no.clearharmony.net/articles/200509/719.html