Publications
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Südwest Press (Germany): “Not adopting one's own standard”
2008-02-22The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is neglecting its responsibility. At least that’s what Dirk Pleiter, Amnesty International’s China Expert said. He asks that sports officials press China harder concerning adherence to human rights. "We could say that there were a few positive steps. But, overall, we have to say that the progress is very disappointing and still has to go a long way [...] Our concerns about China have barely changed over the past thirty years. Persecution due to political affiliation and religious reasons continues unabatedly. Unfair legal proceeding and the possibility that people face long term prison terms without any legal processes continue". -
French Magazine Reports on Approaching Spectacular in Paris
2008-02-18A month before Shen Yun’s New Year Spectacular in Paris (February 29th, March 1st and 2nd), the largest magazine in France, Femme Actuelle (over 1 million copies per week) devoted a full page and a half to the Shen Yun Spectacular. Emphasising the high artistic quality of the show, the journalist compliments the “astounding” beauty of the choreography, costumes and scenery. -
Reporters Without Borders Protest Hu Jia's Arrest in China
2008-02-10The Procuratorate of Beijing Municipality announced the official arrest of famous Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia for the crime of “inciting subversion of state power”. Hu's relatives received notice of his official arrest on January 30th, 2008. The headquarters of Reporters without Borders made a strong protest against the arrest. -
Morgunbladid (Iceland): Human Rights Torch: Iceland Moves
2008-02-02In the run up to the Olympic games to be held this summer, the world nations are faced with the challenging question of how the Games can support the human rights situation in China. The Olympic Charter states that the goal of the Olympics is to place sports at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity. The Olympic committe´s justification for allotting the Peoples Republic of China the summer Olympics of 2008 was based on the conviction that doing so would be a way to press for a positive change in the country. -
Vlothoer-Anzeiger Gazette (Germany) Reports on the Persecution of Falun Gong
2008-01-11"It appears to be harmonious and peaceful when Zhongbo Wang and his friends are practicing Falun Gong exercises in the park. Yet, the Chinese regime is mortally afraid of this. Since 1999, it persecutes and murders practitioners of this meditation movement". -
Frankfurter Rundschau (Germany): Human Rights Week
2007-12-18He performed hard agricultural labour from before sunrise until shortly before midnight. He explained to the more than 300 students in German who were awestruck by what they heard, “We suffered sleep deprivation, had to perform hard labour and were fed awful food.” Even worse than the labour was the brainwashing he suffered. As he refused to renounce Falun Gong after having suffered all that, they tortured him until the moment he renounced Falun Gong in writing. Two implanted artificial hip prosthesis’s after emigrating from China are the most visible signs of the torment he suffered. -
The Times (United Kingdom): Report on China’s Cyber Espionage
2007-12-09According to a report in The Times Newspaper on December 3rd, 2007, the Director-General of MI5 has sent letters to executives of major companies warning them that Chinese state agencies were hacking into their systems and trying to steal confidential information. This is the first time the British Government directly accuses China of involvement in cyber espionage. Reporting the detailed warning by MI5, The Times said that British companies doing business in China were under particular threat from hackers with links to the People’s Liberation Army. -
The Sound of Germany: The Mirror Will Never Let the Chinese Communist Party Decide what the German Media Should Report
2007-12-08It was reported by “The Sound of Germany” on December 3rd, 2007, that the Editor in Chief of the Mirror Weekly said that he will never let the Chinese Communist Party decide what German media should report. According to the report, Hans-Ulrich Stoldt, the spokesman of The Mirror Publishing House told a reporter from the Sound of Germany that a notice had been received last Thursday from Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art cancelling the Mirror Weekly Front Page Exhibition, which had been planed to start this week. -
Czech News Agency: Falun Gong Practitioners Protest Against the Persecution in China
2007-11-25The Czech News Agency reported on the 19th of November, that the European Celestial Marching Band, consisting of over eighty European Falun Gong practitioners, performed at the Old Town Square in Prague on the 17th of November. After the performance, they started a parade in protest against the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution against Falun Gong. -
Article from German Magazine: Executions on Demand
2007-11-20"A lady called Annie, who was married to a neurosurgeon at Sujiatun hospital told of her husband bringing home large sums of money. He often had nightmares and woke up drenched in sweat. Finally, her husband opened up to her and told her that the basement of the hospital housed a secret prison with thousands of inmates, all of them members of the forbidden Falun Gong movement. He told her that he had personally removed the corneas from thousands of the prisoners and that the Sujiatun hospital was treating the Falun Gong practitioners as a living organ bank." -
Article from German Newspaper Westfalen-Blatt: Torture Victim has Operation in Brakel and Receives Hip Replacement
2007-11-02Other prisoners forced him to crouch down and stretched his legs, pressing them into the ground in such a way that both of his hips were broken and joints and tendons snapped. Later, Wang was able to move only painfully and with the help of crutches. The operating surgeon, Dr. Rolf Haaker, chief of the Department of Orthopedics said: “These vicious tactics combined with additional brutal stresses in the forced labour camp caused serious damage that could only be alleviated by replacing the two hip joints with prosthesis.” -
Article from Welt Online (Germany): The reason why the West shuts its eyes concerning human rights violations in China
2007-11-01Liu Wei, born 1972 in Liaoning Province, China, was imprisoned in a pre-trial prison in the Beijing Dongscheng District from September 25th 2001 until January 25th 2003 because she practises Falun Gong. She was then transferred to a Beijing women’s slave labour camp. She recounted what she experienced since August 19th 2005, including psychological and physical torture. In an effort to make her renounce her belief, the torture she suffered ranged from hard slave labour to forced re-education and blackmail. -
Letter to the Editor of a Swiss Newspaper
2007-10-22"Practitioners of the peaceful Qigong practice Falun Gong are still being tortured and persecuted. Those people are not criminals; on the contrary, they live according to the principles of Truth, Compassion and Tolerance. It seems as if people with a sense of morals and responsibility are regarded as threatening by the Chinese government. I very much hope that all of us in the West will recognise our responsibility and stop contributing to the problem out of a misplaced sense of greed for cheap goods." -
Short Article from OÖnachrichten Newspaper in Austria: Attack on Lawyer in China
2007-10-18Mr. Li Heping said that he was forced into a car by strangers as he was leaving his office. “They covered my head and took me to a place far away, into a basement, beat me and accused me of causing trouble for Beijing.” He was released after five hours. On the next day, he found that his license to practise had disappeared from his office and that the hard disc of his computer had been erased. -
Irish Times Article: "Torch relay to highlight Chinese human rights failures"
2007-10-16The Dublin run has been organised by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG). Its spokeswoman, former MEP Patricia McKenna, said that the Olympics must be used as an opportunity to force change in China. "If Irish athletes, politicians or dignitaries go to Beijing to participate in or support the Olympic Games without saying or doing anything about China's failure to improve the situation with regard to human rights, it means we are condoning and giving tacit support to the ongoing violations taking place there," she said.