Press Releases and Media Reports
TV and Radio | Publications | Press Releases
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Article from The Irish Times: Arrest of Chinese Vice-PM Sought Over Torture Claims
2004-11-19The Garda Commissioner has been asked to investigate allegations against the Chinese Premier that he has been implicated in torture by Falun Gong practitioners, write Daniel McConnell and Carol Coulter. Lawyers for five members of the group living in Ireland asked the Garda Commissioner at the weekend to investigate and arrest Mr Huang Ju , who is on a three-day official visit to Ireland, and discussions were still taking place between the lawyers and the Commissioner last night. Diplomatic immunity does not apply to allegations of torture. It is understood that late last night lawyers representing the Chinese group were also considering other avenues of pursuing their objective of having Mr Ju arrested.' -
Falun Gong Information Centre Germany: Hong Kong - Acquittal of Four Falun Gong Practitioners
2004-11-17On the 14th of March 2002, the accused were holding a hunger strike protest against an order issued by the former President of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Jiang Zemin: “Shoot to kill Falun Gong practitioners on public streets.” The Swiss and Hong Kong practitioners were arrested at that same location. -
EFGIC: Falun Gong Death Cases Climb in September and October
2004-11-10'During September and October, sources in China reported 68 cases of people who died as a result of the persecution of Falun Gong. At the time of writing the deaths of 1,101 Falun Gong practitioners have been reported at an average of 17 cases per month. 42 cases were recorded in October, representing one of the highest monthly totals since the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999.' -
German Newspaper Rheinpfalz Reports on the Release of an Imprisoned Chinese Practitioner who Returned to Germany
2004-11-10'She was held for three months in an interim holding prison in North Beijing. She shared a cell with twenty other women. She was allowed a wooden bench for sleeping, but had to share it with three women. For food she was given highly salted Chinese cabbage full of maggots. During that period Xiong Wei was held in an apartment for two weeks with so-called re-education personnel who talked to her day and night, forbid her to sleep, beat her up and threatened to break each of her fingers, one at a time, if she would not sign a document renouncing Falun Gong.' -
German Newspaper Boulevard Baden: After Two Years of Detention in China, Wei Xiong, joins the Struggle for Human Rights
2004-11-09On September 29th she finally regained her freedom, after the efforts of the German government and a number of human rights organisations. She is presently traveling throughout Germany to thank everyone for all the efforts on her behalf, for regaining her freedom and at the same time to tell everyone about the Chinese labour camps and the persecution of Falun Gong adherents in China. -
Austrian Newspaper Reports on Jiang’s Persecution Being Exported to Europe
2004-11-08"The Austrian Government, outraged with the Chinese officials’ action, expedited the request by the thirty two year old economist. Wang experienced, as an admitted Falun Gong adherent, political persecution. Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is a meditation practice banned by the Chinese regime." -
EFGIC: Rescue Mission Turns to Chinese Children
2004-11-02LONDON [EFGIC]– Along with the verified death toll of 1,099 Falun Gong practitioners has come the suffering of countless children in China. An international organization is now working to bring those children out of China to a warm home. Five-year-old Rongrong is the kind of child this mission is aiming to help. The girl’s father was tortured to death because he practised Falun Gong and her mother was later arrested. -
Spanish Newspaper "Europa Press" Interviewed Practitioners about Persecution they Suffered in Forced Labour Camps
2004-10-30In some extreme cases, Falun Gong practitioners were pressurised by the police to beat other practitioners. “There are only two choices under such circumstances, physical death if you insist on your belief, or spiritual death if you are forced to abandon the belief. The only way to survive is to distort your personality, dignity and belief. Such suffering is actually more painful than death.” -
Italian Newspaper L’Unione Sarda Interviews Swiss Falun Gong Practitioner
2004-10-27The young man explained, “I came here today to let people know that even in these modern times persecution exists. This persecution exists only because one wants to live by the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance.” These simple and fundamental values represent for the former Chinese President Jiang Zemin a dire threat to the regime’s existence. -
Article from Swiss Newspaper “Nouvelles”: A Chinese Practice for Healthy Living
2004-10-26'Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have denounced this persecution as an attack on human rights. On the 24th of October 2002, the Parliament of the Canton of Geneva passed a resolution against persecution in China, particularly against that of Falun Dafa practitioners. Some 15 countries have instituted legal proceedings against those who are covering up what is considered to be one of the most large-scale persecutions in the world since 1945.' -
Radio France Internationale: The Chinese Communist Party is Preparing to Reinstate the Good Name of Falun Gong
2004-10-25'From a report on the Epoch Times website on the 21st of October: Information was released from a senior level of the Chinese Communist Party that it is now preparing to reinstate the good name of Falun Gong. The operation has already been started. The State Security Department secretly dispatched investigators to Shanghai previously to collect opinions from people about the 610 Office, in order to prepare for reinstating the good name of Falun Gong.' -
Finnish Newspaper Reports on Falun Gong and Highlights Legal Actions Taken to Bring the Persecutors to Justice
2004-10-23'Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, was introduced in China in 1992 by Master Li Hongzhi. It is a traditional meditation practice that consists of five sets of exercises. According to the practitioners, the exercises promote good health and develop the body, the mind and the spirit. This process is called cultivation.' -
German Newspaper "Leipziger Volkszeitung" Reports on Xiong Wei being Freed from a Forced Labour Camp and Returning to Germany
2004-10-17When talking about the support from abroad, Xiong Wei said, “I was lucky. The police did not treat me as brutally as they did the others.” This is due to the pressure from Germany. The German Government and Premier appealed for Xiong Wei’s freedom in Beijing. There were also petitions against the detainment of Xiong Wei and a large-scale activity of sending postcards to the labour camp where she was detained. As soon as Xiong Wei was released, the German Embassy dropped some diplomatic hints and Xiong Wei was able to come back to Germany last week. -
German Media Reports on Chinese Student who was Rescued from a Forced Labour Camp in China and Returned to Germany
2004-10-16The report said that Xiong Wei was arrested on January the 5th 2002 because she distributed flyers in Beijing to appeal for a stop to the persecution against Falun Gong. Falun Gong practitioners in Germany expressed their sincere thanks to the German Government and all of the parliament members who have provided help in rescuing Xiong Wei. They were also grateful to the international human rights organisations and those compassionate people who provided their signatures, mailed postcards or wrote songs to voice their support for Xiong Wei throughout her illegal imprisonment. -
Radio Free Asia: Xiong Wei Continuously Meets with the German Media to Expose the Persecution
2004-10-15With the help of German human rights organisations and the German Government, Ms. Xiong Wei, a Falun Gong practitioner who recently returned to Germany after two years imprisoned in China for distributing Falun Gong leaflets, continuously meets with German media to expose the cruel persecution she suffered in labour camps and thank the German people and the international community for helping her gain freedom.