(Clearwisdom.net) On July 20, 2006, the US Congressional Human Rights Caucus invited international human rights organizations and Falun Gong practitioners to attend a briefing on the persecution of Falun Gong. Some organizations said that Falun Gong is the most severely persecuted group in China. During the past seven years, more than ten thousand practitioners were arrested.

Radio Free Asia reported on July 21 that Kumar, representing Amnesty International, attended the briefing. Kumar said that among all groups being persecuted, Falun Gong is persecuted most severely. Recently, they received information about the arrest of more than one hundred practitioners.

Based on independent investigation by Amnesty International, hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in 1999. It is not clear whether they have been released. Kumar observed that Chinese officials who might be prone to abolishing the labor camps as a matter of reform are reluctant to do so because they say they will be needed in the future to use against Falun Gong.

When asked about the recent Canadian report by the "Live Organ Removal Investigation Team," Kumar said they paid much attention to this, but had not obtained enough evidence to verify or deny the allegations. The report will assist their investigation.

Dr. Sherry Zhang, from the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG), said during an interview that in the persecution during last seven years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) released propaganda demonizing Falun Gong to justify its persecution. She hoped that the US government and Congress could help them to enter China to investigate the persecution in labor camps. Falun Gong spokesperson Erping Zhang said in his speech that the US should put human rights and justice first when dealing with China.

Falun Gong practitioners also held an appeal at the Capitol lawn on Thursday and called on the CCP regime to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. It is their seventh year holding a similar rally. Many US congressmen, representatives of human rights organizations and figures in legal circles attended the rally and made speeches. The Canadian authors of the "Live Organ Removal Investigation Report" also specially came to attend the rally.