Article Launched: 07/26/2005

Reporter Editor:

The severe persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party has now gone on for six years. The fact that there is no freedom of belief in China is played out every day on the streets, in the jails, labor camps, slave labor factories and brainwashing centers of the world's most populous nation. Falun Gong has born the brunt of China's latest campaign of suppression, because of the large number of people who practice it and their refusal to abandon their belief in truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. However, Christians, Buddhists and Muslims are also routinely harassed and imprisoned for their beliefs. As Americans celebrated independence earlier this month, Catholic Bishop Jia Zhiguo was arrested for the sixth time in the last 18 months.

Conditions in China's detention facilities are brutal and often deadly. A person can be sentenced to three years in a laogai or forced labor camp without a trial. Millions of people are held in these slave labor facilities, making products that often end up on American shelves. Torture is commonplace and thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death.

Recent Chinese diplomatic defectors in Australia have detailed how China sends thousands of spies to Western countries, especially the United States, to spy on and harass Falun Gong overseas. Practitioners here have been threatened, assaulted and had their homes or computers broken into.

Despite the grim picture, history has shown that peaceful people who refuse to fear in the face of violence will finally succeed. I urge everyone to support these courageous people by signing a petition on the friends of Falun Gong Web site and in your hearts and prayers.

Michael Courter, Chico

http://www.thereporter.com/letters/ci_2891286