Video: FGM TV

Falun Gong is freely practiced in at least 57 countries around the world, but relentlessly persecuted in China. The peaceful courage of practitioners there has shocked their oppressors and moved the people of the world. While China continues to block all information, FGMtv brings you the stories you may not hear anywhere else.

Hello, and welcome to FGMtv on June 25th, 2002

I'm Susan Mitchell.

The number of Falun Gong practitioners verified to have died as a result of mistreatment by Jiang Zemin's regime is 428. However, a new publication out of China that seems to have access to privileged information puts the actual number at over 7,000.

Our top story this week:

Chinese Embassies in Indonesia and London, England show their utter disdain for their host governments.

And some of our other stories:

• A CNN report on Jiang Zemin's history of bullying Western countries
• Details of one of the seven deaths of practitioners reported in the last week
• Putting a face to the persecuted -- from Canada and Sweden
• A display of Falun Dafa historical photos in Durban, South Africa and other cultural activities of practitioners in Japan, the USA and Australia

And finally...

• Iceland... the small country with a large heart.

Our Top Story: Chinese Embassies demonstrate their flagrant and utter disdain for governments outside China:

• In Indonesia, Falun Gong practitioners filed a lawsuit against the Chinese Embassy after the Embassy seriously disrupted and slandered two lawful activities: an experience-sharing conference, and a parade.
• On Thursday, June 13, 2002, the Judge of the South District State Court held court to bring the case to trial.
• The trial began without the Chinese Embassy
.
• They refused to attend, stating that since Falun Gong was not registered with the embassy, they would not appear in court.
• The Judge ruled that because the Chinese embassy had not fulfilled their responsibilities, the court would reconvene again on Thursday, June 27.
• The Judge also ordered that the Chinese embassy be summoned again to appear in court on that day.

and in London, England...

The tabling of an Early Day Motion, or EDM, in the British Houses of Parliament is a device to draw attention to an issue, and to elicit support for it by inviting other Members of Parliament to add their signatures to the motion.

UK MP mailed the following letter to a practitioner:

"Please find enclosed a copy of the Early Day Motion tabled by Dr. Lynne Jones concerning the Chinese Embassy's Policy of Ignorance towards MP's letters concerning the plight of Falun Gong practitioners. I am optimistic that this will draw a reply from the Chinese Ambassador to the letters he has received from hundreds of MPs (including me) and has so far failed to respond to."

• 31 MPs have already signed the EDM.
• The Member of Parliament's name has been withheld to prevent the Chinese Embassy from sending out more of their defamatory propaganda.
• Is there another diplomatic mission in the world so impolite as to refuse to reply to correspondence from the government of the country who is their host?

moving now to Australia,

• where citizens in Brimbank celebrated Falun Dafa Day on June 15th.
• The Mayor of the City of Brimbank opened proceedings, warmly welcoming everyone who attended. He spoke with words that cherished the principles of truthfulness-compassion-forbearance and the unity of all cultures.

and over to Tokyo, where on June 22nd, practitioners were invited to participate in a "Pray for World Peace Concert"

• The concert was one of the events organized by the World Christian League's "First World Christian Peace Conference" held to commemorate the joint hosting of the 2002 World Cup (Football) by Japan and Korea.
• Artists from Japan, Korea, China and other countries gave performances.

From Japan, we go to Philadelphia, USA, where...

• On June 7th, a one-week "Journey of Falun Dafa" Photo Exhibition opened at the Horton Gallery near the famous Liberty Bell O
• Over a thousand people attended

A CNN Report on Jiang Zemin's history of bullying Western countries...

• On June 19, 2002 Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN's Senior China Analyst posted an article describing Jiang Zemin's visit to Iceland as his waging "big-bucks diplomacy."
• CNN is just one of many media outlets around the world that reported on China putting Iceland in a difficult position.
• Mr. Lam wrote that the Chinese Communist Party leadership first demonstrated what its critics called bullying tactics in 1997, when Denmark was bold enough to move a resolution slamming Beijing's treatment of dissidents and ethnic minorities.
• At that time, a spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said: "This anti-Chinese resolution will, I think, in the end become a rock that smashes on the Danish Government's head."
• Beijing went on to cancel all commercial contracts with the Scandinavian nation. A year later, Copenhagen, and quite a few other European capitals, apparently wised up.
• Since then, Mr. Lam reported, the CCP administration has dangled supposedly lucrative trading and investment prospects to achieve a plethora of goals.
• For how much longer can the world's countries continue to put money ahead of people?

Details of one of the seven deaths of practitioners reported in the last week:

• Falun Dafa practitioners in China report that practitioner Gui Xunhua who lived in Xinhe Village, Xiaochi Town in Huangmei County of Hubei Province was tortured to death while detained at the Jiujiang City Police Department on June 1, 2002.
• He was a village accountant and had been kidnapped on March 11, 2002 by police personnel from Xiaochi Town and Jiujiang City Police Departments.
• When he refused to cooperate, several police officers beat him in broad daylight, with many witnesses.
• His wife, who is also a practitioner, tried her best to resist the police and was also brutally beaten.
• The police took him to the Jiujiang City Police Department and interrogated and illegally detained him.
• He died after torture on June 1, 2002, and his body was taken home. At the time he was kidnapped, he weighed almost 200 pounds, but at his the time of his death, he was little more than skin and bones and his body was in a completely wretched state.
• For two days, while Gui Xunhua's body was laid out in his home, police surrounded the house and no one was allowed entry to pay their respects.
• Police then removed his body and cremated him without the family's permission.
• No practitioners were allowed to attend the funeral.

Putting a face and a name to the Persecuted...

Every week, we announce the number of practitioners known to have died as a result of mistreatment by Chinese authorities who have violated their country's constitution by persecuting Falun Gong. Here are three more faces of the persecuted:

Amnesty International has just issued an appeal as follows:

• In December 2000, Lizhi He, senior civil engineer with the Construction Ministry of the Chinese Government, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for his peaceful activities as a member of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice combining Chinese qigong exercises, meditation and moral teachings. His wife, Li Zhang, is a permanent resident in Canada.
• The Canadian government had already issued the necessary papers for Mr. He and Ms. Zhang to immigrate to Canada. After unsuccessful attempts to appeal for her husband's release and under threat of detention herself, Ms. Zhang made the difficult decision to travel to Canada alone.

and a Swedish practitioner writes...

• "After the persecution started I often wondered what happened to the friends that I met during my three visits to China. Are they still cultivating? Have they suffered from torture? Are they still alive? Why are such good people being persecuted?
• I remember, especially well, one young man that I met every year. Since July 1999 I have been wondering how he and his wife are doing. Recently I saw the picture of a family on Clearwisdom [A website for Falun Dafa practitioners], and under the picture it said "Child is missing her mother." It was them, my Chinese friends!
• In December 1997, practitioners from many countries celebrated Christmas Eve together with the Chinese practitioners. At my table there was a man that I recognized. It was that young man who led the Fa study group in which I had taken part the previous year. His name was Lin Chentao and he was a scientist. Later we had shared experiences at our hotel together with practitioners from different countries. I was very glad when Lin proudly presented his wife. They had recently married. She was that helpful, smiling woman I had met in 1996.
• I have now heard that he has been tortured so severely in Tuanhe Forced Labour Camp that he has became mentally disabled. His wife Zhang Xiaojie, a music teacher, is now suffering in a female labour camp. Meanwhile their 2-year-old daughter is missing her parents.
• The Swedish practitioner continues... "Lin Chentao and his family have been torn apart. Sadly to say, there are many, many others who have suffered like this and it makes my heart bleed."

moving now to South Africa...

• Practitioners around the world have held large photographic exhibitions of the history and evolution of the spread of Falun Dafa.
• On June 17, 2002, such an exhibition opened for a two-week showing at the Menzi Mlunu Gallery in the City of Durban, South Africa. The local people thus obtained the opportunity to explore Falun Dafa, try the exercises for themselves and learn the truth of the persecution of practitioners in China by the Jiang Zemin regime.
• Many of the visitors were very happy to sign the petition condemning the persecution.

Jiang Zemin's hired cheering squad couldn't block the view!

Falun Dafa practitioners who went to Iceland manage to legally lift their banners very prominently, as the Chinese President drives past on his way to the airport, beating a hasty retreat from the country whose people so openly condemned their government's initial decision to block entry to practitioners. The small group with the red and white banners were a cheering squad hired by the Chinese government, who -- obviously unsuccessfully! - tried to block the Chinese president's view of the much larger, brighter Falun Dafa group of banners and people.

and finally... Iceland. A small country with a big heart.

Paul Lin, in the Taipei Times was another journalist who reported on the Iceland scandal saying, in part:

• The Chinese Communist Party may have effectively trampled upon international human rights, but in the end Beijing's actions only helped publicize the Falun Gong's cause.
• On June 13 -- the day of Jiang's arrival -- 450 Icelandic legislators and other notables published four full-page newspaper advertisements -- with the word "Sorry" emblazoned in Chinese characters at the top of the page.
• On June 14 local human rights groups organized an anti-Jiang demonstration in Reykjavik that attracted about 1,000 people. Given that Iceland has a population of about 250,000, getting 1,000 people to a protest is no small feat.
• Falun Dafa practitioners took these photographs of the Icelandic protesters, who sealed their mouths with black fabric to let their government know that their democratic rights had been violated.
• Over the few days that the small country of Iceland became the focus of world concern, many people came to learn the exercises, and
• Many friendships were formed.

Thanks for watching FGMtv, dedicated to breaking through China's information blockade, revealing propaganda, and bringing you the truth of Falun Gong.