Tokyo News (Japan): Communist Regime Continues Persecution of Falun Gong

The Tokyo News is one of the five major newspapers in Japan. On October 25th, the News published a story which detailed the suffering of three Chinese immigrants' family members in China due to the ongoing brutal persecution of Falun Gong. The article pointed out that the Chinese Communist Party hadn't fulfilled its promise to improve human rights in China. The article was timely in that it was published just prior to the Japanese Prime Minister's visit to Beijing and focused public attention to the persecution of Falun Gong.

"Torture, Abuse, Deprivation of Sleep. A Flyer Led to A 10-Year Sentence," was the title of this article. The report began by introducing the plight of Xie Yunhua, brother of Chinese-Japanese Kurebayashi Mitsuhiro. In March 2001, for producing Falun Gong ''truth-clarification" flyers, Xie was sentenced to prison for 10 years. He is currently being held in a prison in Harbin. Mr. Kurebayashi said that his brother was forced to work more than 10 hours every day and was often subjected to torture and sleep deprivation.

The report said that Xie has been in custody for over 7 years. As he refused to denounce Falun Gong, his family members are not allowed to visit him and thus don't know his current situation. According to Kurebayashi, for refusing to denounce the practice, many Falun Gong practitioners are not released even after they have served full term.

The report also discussed the plight of another Chinese immigrant's relative in Dalian, China. The report said that the persecution is a "Cultural Revolution again" for some Chinese people. Zhou Jinhua is a Chinese immigrant living in Japan and her 34-year-old sister Zhou Meihua has been arrested 4 times for practising Falun Gong. She is currently detained in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, notorious for its brutality toward detainees. When Zhou's mother heard that her beloved daughter was in this labour camp, she was so traumatised that she soon passed away. Ms. Zhou said: "My family members in China are experiencing another Cultural Revolution now."

The article introduced Yu Jia, who recently came to Japan from Beijing. For Yu, the Olympic Games in Beijing was a nightmare. According to Yu, several practitioner friends were persecuted to death as Beijing authorities escalated the persecution prior to the Games.

The article said that Yu was a graduate of Tsinghua University and worked at the university as an instructor. Because she is a Falun Gong practitioner, she was detained for 3.5 years. In addition, her sister-in-law, who also taught in the same university, has been in custody since 2002. Her brother Yu Chao was sentenced to an 11-year term and is being detained in Tianjin. Yu said that her nephew is already ten years old and he doesn't even remember what his parents look like.

The report pointed out that the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners is brutal beyond imagination. Abuses include electrical shocks, use of nerve-damaging drugs, sexual abuse, and even organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners. While the Communist regime used all means to ensure the success of the Beijing Olympics in order to display its confidence to the world, the international community cannot help but see the covert human rights abuses, conflicts between ethnic groups, and poverty. The regime violated its promise to improve human rights in China. Instead, it chose to escalate the persecution of Falun Gong while preparing for the Games.

The Tokyo News report said that Falun Gong was first introduced to the public in 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi. In April 1999, more than 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners appealed near the Zhongnaihai central government compound to request the Communist regime to stop suppressing the group. In July 1999, the Jiang Zemin regime started to persecute Falun Gong. According to Falun Gong reports, more than 3,200 practitioners have died during the persecution and at least 100,000 are still in custody.