Feb 11, 2005

(Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES - A flood of harassing and defamatory phone calls targeting Falun Gong began just two days before the Lunar New Year arrives. The Chinese and English recorded messages were received beginning early Sunday in at least 21 countries over four continents.

Europe was bombarded in at least 13 countries with over 200 calls received at each number called in Finland. Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, and the U.S., also reported the distressing calls.

"This is a widespread, well-timed campaign," said Ying Chen of New Jersey, after hearing from numerous friends who received the calls. "The repeated phone calls are nothing different than a forceful brainwashing."

Regarding the six calls she received, Chen stated that the FBI in Newark said that this "definitely had reached a harassment level. The FBI is also interested in knowing why they are doing this now."

These calls come at a time when the most important holiday in China and for Chinese families abroad is arriving. Asian families are gathering together to celebrate Lunar New Year, which begins on February 9.

"I feel so sorry that they [Chinese Communist Party] are so desperate to even fear to face people," said John Li of Pasadena, California who received four calls in both English and Chinese.

Li feels that, since the publication of The Epoch Times "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party," the Chinese government has become nervous as a wave of people leaves the Party. The "Nine Commentaries" fully expose the bloody and oppressive history of the CCP.

Li believes this international harassment campaign is a reaction of the CCP out of frustration from the declining Party membership and its inability to eradicate the Falun Gong spiritual practice.

The recorded messages of unidentified origin are recycling propaganda from an incident from four years ago that was used by Chinese state-owned media to incite hatred against Falun Gong. The recording included slander against the spiritual group's founder. It also references a recent AP article about a woman who supposedly participated in the incident four years ago, which said that she "was sentenced for producing pamphlets teaching that Falun Gong followers could reach spiritual fulfillment by burning themselves."

On January 23, 2001, one day before the Lunar New Year, five people were set on fire in Tiananmen Square in China. The tragedy was first attributed to Falun Gong practitioners, but Western media and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) soon became skeptical of the incident. The Washington Post investigated and discovered that no one ever saw one of the victims practice Falun Gong.

Falun Gong teachings strictly prohibit killing of any type, including suicide. No other incidents of self-immolation of people identified as Falun Gong have surfaced in China or outside China. The 2001 incident remains isolated, and has been labeled by NGOs such as the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong as a "hoax" or staged show.

Regarding the recent calls, "It is obviously a disgusting show by the CCP to deceive people using hatred and nationalism," said Michael Ye of Los Angeles, who received three calls on Monday. "I think it definitely violates some U.S. laws. We should call for an investigation."

"I think this is political suicide by the CCP regime. In the US, people have access to a lot of information. I don't think the lies can continue," he added.

This type of harassment falls under the FBI's definition of hate crimes. The Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990 requires the Justice Department to open an investigation and if crimes are found, to prosecute the perpetrator(s).

http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-2-11/26375.html