Press Release: Falun Gong Continues to Seek Just Resolution with Icelandic Government

In June 2002, during the Chinese state visit to Iceland, Falun Gong practitioners silently appealed to stop the persecution in front of the very person who ordered brainwash, ill-treatment and torture of practitioners, even to death, in China. The brutality is widely documented and details of more that 66 000 thousand cases of torture have been sent to the UN. Since then the persecution has only become worse, and it is still on-going today.

Last year it was revealed that the Communist Party already at that time used Falun Gong practitioners as raw material for organ transplants, a profitable and blooming business in China’s public hospitals today. Former Canadian Secretary of State of Asia-Pacific Hon. David Kilgour and renowned human rights lawyer Mr. David Matas concluded in their independent investigation report Bloody Harvest that “there has been and continues today to be large scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners” by the “the government of China and its agencies in numerous parts of the country…” The widespread killing of Falun Gong practitioners for profit to provide organs for transplants is “so shocking that it represents a new form of evil on this planet.” [1]

In March 2006, UN special Rapporteur Manfred Nowak reported that torture remains "widespread" in China and Falun Gong practitioners represented 66 percent of all the alleged torture cases. [2] In March 2007, Mr Nowak in his report stated: "Organ harvesting has been inflicted on a large number of unwilling Falun Gong practitioners at a wide variety of locations for the purpose of making available organs for transplant operations." [3]

During the visit in 2002, practitioners from all over the world used their own scarce time and money to go to Iceland to appeal for justice in front of the visitor who initiated the Chinese communist regime’s evil persecution. The practitioners’ efforts were not for themselves, but to help rescue others from torture and death and to share the good principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. The Icelandic people indeed welcomed the practitioners to Iceland and overwhelmingly supported their right to appeal.
Rather than commending practitioners’ self-sacrifice and courage to end the persecution, it was most unfortunate that the Icelandic government tried to silence the voice of justice by bowing to pressure from a foreign dictatorship. Its decisions were against the will of its own people and set a dangerous precedent among democratic nations. [4] According to rulings from the Ombudsman (2005) and from the Icelandic Data Authority (2003) some of the government’s decisions were unlawful.

History will not forget the Icelandic people's overwhelming and kind support during the ban, especially the apologies [5] made by citizens of Iceland, to those adversely affected by their government's decisions.
History will also not forget the strength and courage if Icelandic government can rectify the mistakes and take responsible action to uphold principles and restore justice.

The Chinese Communist regime’s violation of human rights continues. Several groups are targeted, including religious practitioners, democracy activists, people deprived of land etc. More and more people see through the evil nature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Today over 22 million people in China have joined the courageous wave to denounce the CCP and its associated organizations. This brings true hope for the future China – without communism – with human rights.

We continue to believe that it will benefit all concerned to come to a just resolution. FIDC encourages the Icelandic government to take a dignified course of action and compensate those practitioners adversely affected. Such actions will restore the reputation of Iceland and leave behind the manipulation from the Chinese communist regime. It will further honor the will of the Icelandic people, and remove the blemish imprinted on the history of Iceland by the unfortunate decisions in June 2002.

Falun Gong – Iceland Dialogue Committee (FIDC)