On July 19, 2007, hundreds held a rally at the Capitol Hill calling for the end of the persecution of Falun Gong.  U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen gave a speech.

Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen said the persecution "causes great distress to freedom-loving peoples around the world."

She was hoping "the sufferings of Falun Gong practitioners would end or greatly diminish when Jiang stepped down from his official party position four years ago," yet she was sad to see that did not happen.

She stated, "The Chinese Communist Party's bloody attempts to suppress Falun Gong -- a spiritual movement which grew to include an estimated one hundred million people in China - have included torture, forced labor, imprisonment, brainwashing, psychiatric abuse, organ harvesting, and even murder.

"The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, confirmed in a report just this past March that Falun Gong practitioners account for two-thirds of the victims of torture in China today.

"The methods of torture utilized, according to Mr. Nowak, include beatings with fists, sticks and electric batons, submersion in water or sewage, cigarette burns, shackling with handcuffs for 24 hours a day, prolonged periods of solitary confinement, and forced labor.

"The systematic use of torture against Falun Gong practitioners, in fact, constitutes yet another reason, along with Beijing's support for the Sudanese regime in its bloody campaign in Darfur, to label the 2008 Summer Olympic Games as the "Genocide Olympics."

 Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen is also deely concerned about the organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China, "The issue of organ harvesting by the Chinese regime has been of great concern to me for some time, which is why I chaired one of the first Congressional hearings on the subject, and addressed it in several legislative measures I have authored."

Lastly she said, "I commit to you that I will continue to press for an end this abhorrent practice. 

The message that we send to Beijing here today should be loud and clear: End the persecution of Falun Gong now!"

 

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