Press Releases and Media Reports
TV and Radio | Publications | Press Releases
-
EFGIC: Two School Teachers Among Four Latest Falun Gong Death Reports
2003-03-14The details of four more Falun Gong deaths have been confirmed by sources in China. All four of these practitioners were sentenced to forced labour camps in attempts to have them renounce their practice of Falun Gong. In each case, the practitioners refused to recant their beliefs. As a result, they were brutally tortured to the edge of death. Three of them were released to die quietly at home as officials attempted to shirk responsibility for the deaths they have caused. -
FDI: Lawless Court Takes Aim at American
2003-03-14Charles' situation is dire. Choosing a lawyer for this trial would only validate a fundamentally impossible proposition: that any practitioner of Falun Gong could escape China's predetermined "verdict" of guilty. It's a farce to entertain the idea that justice could be served in a state where the top standing orders include "eliminate Falun Gong at all costs." In these courts there are no appeals and there are no observers. -
RFI (Radio France Internationale): Practitioners Call On German Government to Press China to Release Lin Wenrong
2003-03-11We have just heard of the arrest of Lin Wenrong. We are very shocked by the news. She was arrested and sent to a forced brainwashing class just because she practises Falun Gong...There practitioners are subjected to mental persecution or even torturing. After hearing the news, practitioners in Germany and other countries around the world are urgently calling for her immediate release. -
EFGIC: Falun Gong Woman Dies from Force-Feeding Torture
2003-03-09Many detention centres and labour camps in China force-feed Falun Gong practitioners. More often used as a torture technique than a way of forcing nutrients into the detainee, the force-feeding procedure is often carried out by untrained police or common prisoners. Right: An artists rendering of the force-feeding torture. -
EFGIC: Three Falun Gong Practitioners Die from Torture and Abuse in Police Custody
2003-03-08Three Falun Gong practitioners deaths have recently been reported by sources in China. Mr. Lan Hu (31), a civil servant from Liangxi Province, Mrs. Zhao Baolan (63), wife of a Shengli Oil Field worker in Shandong Province, and Ms. Wang Hong (mid-30s) from Liangning Province are the latest victims of Jiang Zemins campaign of terror against Falun Gong. -
EFGIC Press Release: German Musician Arrested in China
2003-03-06'Lin visited Wuhan to celebrate the Chinese Spring Festival together with her family. After visiting her family she went to Beijing on her own, where she was arrested by the 610 Office, a special police unit established just for the systematic persecution of Falun Gong in China. Lin now faces torture and brainwashing in Xiajiadian labour camp, in the city of Shiyan, Hubei province.' -
The Times of London: Bar stands up to the might of China
2003-03-06'But it is the coming power to proscribe organisations "subordinate" to those banned in the mainland that most worries Gladys Li, the chairman of Hong Kong "Justice". The Government has not explained why it needs to augment existing proscription powers under national security and anti-terrorism legislation, especially since Article 23 does not even require it. Falun Gong is an obvious target.' -
EFGIC Press Release: Falun Gong Woman Left Paralysed from Severe Torture in Chinese Forced Labour Camp
2003-03-05'..due to the torture Ms. Li had endured, the labour camp sent her to the People's Hospital of Hebei Province to be resuscitated. Ms. Li was emaciated. Many of her major organs were malfunctioning. Her pulse could not be detected, and she had to be put on a ventilator...Throughout Ms. Lis ordeal in the hospital, labour camp police monitored her 24 hours a day, apparently fearing what she may reveal regarding the torture she experienced in the labour camp.' -
BBC Monitoring: Taiwan protests against Hong Kong entry bar to Falun Gong practitioners
2003-03-04'In a news conference called to denounce the Hong Kong authorities' deportation of 80 Taiwanese Falun Gong followers on 20 February and 21 February, [Vice-President Annette] Lu said the former British colony has rapidly lost its shine as the Pearl of the Orient and a "beacon of freedom" since it was handed back to Beijing in 1997.' -
The Experiences of a 76-Year-Old Who Was Viciously Beaten by Beijing Police
2003-03-04Because I did not report my name, they beat me severely. I was repeatedly struck and had black eyes and a swollen forehead. It was hard to catch my breath due to the police agents' roughly kicking me in my side with their heavy boots. I was 73 at that time. I was detained for more than 10 days in such a vicious environment. -
Guelph Mercury (Canada): Religious freedom still not complete here
2003-03-04'Chinese Falun Gong practitioners now face the worst kind of persecution. Practicing in China is treated as a crime of the highest degree resulting in arrest and torture, (often resulting in death.) But this is not a problem that simply ends at the Chinese border. Globalization has ensured that the long arm of the Chinese government affects the freedom of Canadian citizens as well.' -
Epoch Times: First and Second Readings of Article 23 Pass Council - Members from Democratic Groups Walk Out of Meeting in Protest
2003-03-02'More than 20 council members from the Democratic Party, the Civil Human Rights Front, and the Employee Union left the meeting before the first reading [and] burned a mockup of the Blue Bill in the parking lot outside the Legislative Council building.' -
EFIC Press Release: Falun Dafa Woman Dies in Police Custody in China
2003-03-01'During the Chinese Spring Festival in 2003, Liu Jie, a 37-year-old woman practitioner was tortured to death for peacefully distributing greeting cards with the Chinese characters for "Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance" on them...Eighty-three practitioners of Falun Dafa are known to have died from police torture and abuse in Heilongjiang Province. Ten of those deaths, including Ms. Liu, have occurred in Shuangcheng City.' -
Press Release: Chinese woman resident in Germany being held while on a visit to China. It is feared she may be under threat of torture and brainwashing
2003-02-28'Practitioners in Germany have informed the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong about Mrs. Lins situation, as well as of the renewed arrests of practitioners in Wuhan and asked them to thoroughly investigate. German friends of Mrs. Lin have further contacted the German State Department, the German Legation in Beijing and the German Consulate in Shanghai, to work toward the immediate release and return of Mrs. Lin.' -
Ming Bao (Hong Kong): Falun Gong Practitioners in Parade Against Article 23 Legislation (Photo)
2003-02-27'They pointed out that the proposed legislation would infringe upon the already weakened human rights and freedom in Hong Kong. They also complained that the immigration office denied entry to more than ten Taiwan practitioners at the airport. One Swedish practitioner expressed to the reporter that the Hong Kong government should take care not to sell out its integrity.'