UK: "Friends of Falun Gong" Speech at 20th July Press Conference

As you know, today is the third anniversary of the start of the official policy of persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese government. On July 20th 1999, Jiang Zemin began a campaign of terror, the likes of which had never before been witnessed in the history of one of the oldest, most respected nations on earth.

Since then, over 430 practitioners have been tortured to death at the hands of this most ruthless of dictators, while countless others are unaccounted for, or have been sentenced to long prison sentences or sent to labour camps without trial.

This absurd abuse of a basic human right, that of being free to believe in whatever you feel is right, provided it has no adverse affect on others, appears to have no basis other than a fear that somehow Falun Gong practitioners are secretly planning to overthrow the Chinese government and to take control of the minds of the Chinese people. This is clearly not the case.

If Jiang Zemin took time to consider the consequences of what he has ordered, the torture, the incarceration and the murders, which let us not forget have deprived not just thousands but millions of decent, law-abiding people of their freedom and, in many cases of friends and loved-ones, he would surely come to realise the insanity and barbarity of it all. The persecution we have seen so far must rank amongst the worst human rights abuses witnessed anywhere on the planet for many hundreds of years, certainly in the history of the great Chinese nation.

Today must serve as a sharp reminder of the terrible pain and suffering that can be inflicted by one person or group of individuals on others. Jiang Zemin must be made to realise that this type of behaviour is wholly unacceptable to anyone who upholds the principles of ‘Truth, Compassion and Forbearance’, and that Falun Gong will never simply go away. It will exist together with the universe.

We therefore call upon the Chinese government, and Jiang Zemin in particular, to stop the persecution immediately and to release all those practitioners who are currently being held against their will.

We also call upon Jiang Zemin to engage in a peaceful and meaningful dialogue with representatives of Falun Gong in China, so that he can hear and appreciate their point of view. If he only allowed himself the opportunity to do this, he would I am sure realise the error of judgment, which has resulted in the drastic action he has taken.