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Script:
Falun Gong is freely practised in 40 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, FGM-TV brings you the stories you may not hear anywhere else.
Hello, and welcome to FGM-TV on October 16th, 2001.
I'm Susan Mitchell.
In Canada:
This week's update from China:
and
students at a Waldorf School in Germany learn Falun Gong exercises together
The New Zealand SOS walk lasted 22 days and covered a distance of 652 kilometers. During the walk, about 7,000 pieces of literature on Falun Dafa were distributed, and interviews were given to 8 journalists. More than 30 practitioners and supporters participated in the walk, and at least 10 people learned the Falun Gong exercises. In Wellington, the walkers were congratulated by New Zealand's Foreign Minister (4th from the left)
On September 30, Montreal practitioners who will participate in the SOS Walk from Ottawa to UN Headquarters in New York held a press conference in the United Park in Ottawa to start their journey.
On October 7th, SOS walkers in France passed through St. Quantin, meeting with the Mayor and his assistant there, and later in Ham, with the Mayor's Assistant.
Falun Gong practitioners from Peru successfully finished the SOS! Global RescueWalk in Peru along the 300-km Pan-America Highway. The walk started from Lima on September 28 and finished at Ica on October 8.
Following is the text of a letter that was received recently from the Mayor and Secretary of Council in Fribourg, Switzerland:
We refer to your letter of 9 August 2001 and to the meeting of some of you with the undersigned, as part of your solidarity walk on 21 August at Fribourg. We are happy to inform you that, at its meeting on 28 August 2001, the Municipal Council has decided to add its moral support to your association, to further the cause of respect for human rights and religious freedom in China.Yours faithfully,
In the name of the Municipal Council of the City of Fribourg,
signed: Catherine Agustoni, City Council Secretary, and Dominique de Buman, Mayor.
For the last 2 years, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC, has been preparing a feature program about Falun Gong. Their journalists traveled to China as long as 3 years ago to film large scale group exercise practices. Recently, they interviewed practitioners who had been released from torture in labour camps through the efforts of the Australian and Canadian governments. The 45 minute program was shown to the British public at prime time on September 30th, the eve of China's National Day. Attempts by the government of China to have the BBC focus on their false propaganda failed, and instead, the program drew special attention to how the Chinese government, since April 25, 1999, has been persecuting Falun Gong on the pretext of national security.
And in WASHINGTON, USA -- A delegation from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom met October 10 with officials from the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Religious Affairs to discuss the Commission's concerns about religious freedom violations in China.
As the Secretary of State concluded in September 1999 and again in 2000, the Chinese government severely and systematically violates the religious freedom of its citizens and respect for religious freedom has "deteriorated markedly" in recent years. In the last year, the government of China has expanded its crackdown on unregistered religious communities and tightened its control on official religious organizations. The government has intensified its campaign against the Falun Gong movement and its followers.
During this meeting, practitioners of Falun Gong peacefully demonstrated the exercises to the public.
In Canada, recently:
The annual thanksgiving parade in Waterloo, a city about 90 miles northwest of Toronto draws tens of thousands of people and two TV stations who provide live coverage. Practitioners of Falun Gong joined the festivities doing the exercises on a colourful float.
A male Falun Gong practitioner, name unknown, late 30's, from the Laiwu area of Shandong province, was beaten to death mid-August 2001. The doctor who examined the body at the county hospital reported that the body was dissected, the suspected purpose of which was to harvest internal organs for sale on the black market. This occurred at the Yanggu County, Shandong Province "610 Office" and Public Security Bureau. Since July 1999, he is at least the 52nd practitioner to die at the hands of authorities in Shandong Province, where the persecution numbers and ill treatment are high.
Solemn Declarations
Every week, despite tremendous pressure from Chinese authorities, many hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners who were forced to write so-called "guarantees not to practice" re-affirm their intention to practice and send solemn declarations to Minghui Web site declaring those statements written during imprisonment as null and void. In the last 7 days, 845 solemn declarations were received.
Moving now to Wuhan, in Hubei province....
During a visit to the United States in July, 2001, Zhao Zhifei, the Public Security Chief of China's Hubei province, was sued by Wuhan Falun Gong practitioner Peng Liang.
Peng's mother and younger brother had both been beaten to death by authorities under Zhao's command. The charges against Zhao include murder, maltreatment, and false imprisonment of Falun Gong practitioners. This event was widely reported by the media in North America.
According to reliable sources, Zhao quickly returned to China to mobilize the police force in Hubei province to massively hunt down and arrest Falun Gong practitioners. As a result, many practitioners in thought to be associated with Peng Liang have been arrested and cruelly tortured.
At the beginning of October, while the China-US human rights dialogue was taking place, CCTV in China denounced Peng Liang's prosecution of Zhao Zhifei, and made a false countercharge saying that his brother died because he "refused medical treatment" [allegedly due to his Falun Gong beliefs and that his mother "died from a sudden cerebral hemorrhage."
Ms. Terri Marsh, the American attorney who helped Peng Liang sue Zhao Zhifei, commented, "This is simply a cruel joke. Their behavior is just like that of rapists or murderers. They not only do not take responsibility for their own atrocities, but actually blame their victims in order to cover up their crimes."
Analysts believe that Peng Liang wanted to demand justice for the wrongful death of his murdered younger brother and mother, but had nowhere to appeal in China because of Jiang Zemin's secret order that "killing (Falun Gong practitioners) will be counted as suicide." He can only seek justice in the international community where the law is honored.
Wang Jin, male, the deputy director of Chengguan Police Station; Wang Yanping, female, the secretary of the residential committee; and Li Jiulian, female, the secretary of the residential committee have illegally sent many kind practitioners to jail, sentenced four to prison terms, and have beaten up and disabled many others. At the end of last year, the three of them were driving over the Nanhe bridge and crashed into the river below. Wang Yanping and Li Jiulian were severely injured and were each in a coma for two days and two nights. . Wang Jin suffered several injuries and broken bones, and died suddenly while taking a bath in May of this year.
Xiao Kecheng used to be the Deputy Chief of the Minyun Police Station in Xigang District, Dalian City, Liaoning Province. He had actively participated in the persecution against Falun Dafa. On September 28th he was very drunk, drove his car onto the wrong side of the road and was killed in an accident.