NEWS - Aug. 07, 2007 Falun Dafa Information Center [ http://faluninfo.net/ ]

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Twenty Falun Gong adherents reported dead in June

NEW YORK �" During the month of June the Falun Dafa Information Center has recorded the deaths of 20 Falun Gong adherents as a result of the Chinese Communist Party's persecution of the practice. Some of the deaths took place as early as January 2007 but only became known in June due to the difficulties and dangers involved in obtaining such sensitive information from inside China.

The deaths took place across ten provinces and cities throughout China, with over three quarters of them occurring in the northeastern part of the country. Fourteen of those killed were women, who also account for 70 percent of the overall confirmed death toll, which now stands at 3,073. Estimates place the actual death toll at over ten times this figure, as many thousands remain missing and earlier killings continue to be uncovered.

Of the deaths reported in June, eight of the victims were over 50. The youngest, Liu Liang from Shandong province's Jiaozhou city, was 24 years old.

According to several media reports, including a 2005 article by Intelligence Online, Deputy Public Security Minister Liu Jing has been assigned the responsibility of eradicating Falun Gong before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (news) The orders presumably came from top leaders, like politburo member Luo Gan, who remain committed to Jiang Zemin's anti-Falun Gong policy. Sources in China corroborate these reports, saying Liu has issued orders to police departments throughout the country, demanding concerted efforts to achieve the goal of making Falun Gong disappear before the Summer Games almost exactly a year away.

Among the 20 death cases recorded in June is Wang Minli; back in 2003 United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Theo van Boven had expressed concern over her arrest and torture. In a 2006 document authored by his successor, Special Rapporteur Manfred Nowak, 66 percent of the reported victims of torture in custody were Falun Gong practitioners.

Common torture methods include shocks administered by electric batons, beatings, sexual torture including rape, hanging by handcuffs from the ceilings, being tied spread eagle for days, and sleep deprivation for weeks, along with forced labor of as many as 20 hours a day and brainwashing sessions known euphemistically as "re-education." All are for the purpose of forcing Falun Gong adherents to renounce their belief and disclose information about other practitioners.

Moreover, there is evidence of large-scale harvesting of kidneys, hearts, livers and other body parts from Falun Gong practitioners; the organs are then sold for profit, as documented in the independent Kilgour-Matas report (link).

"Today, Falun Gong adherents continue to suffer extreme human rights abuses by the Chinese regime. It is not over and it is crucial that western media continue to shine light on these atrocities," says Joel Chipkar, Canadian spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Information Center.

"Every report published puts pressure on the regime to stop killing for fear of being held responsible. Otherwise, our silence inevitably aids in the deaths of more human beings."

Below are a few of the death cases compiled during the month of June:

Teacher Dies from Torture and Neglect

Wei Fengju before being tortured (top), and on July 11, 2007, the day before she passed away (above).

Wei Fengju was a well-respected teacher at Dongfeng County's No. 4 Middle School in Jilin province. She started practicing Falun Gong in the late 1990s. On December 30, 1999, five months after the communist regime began persecuting Falun Gong, she went to Beijing to petition to Chinese government to reverse its policy. She was illegally sentenced to the First Division of the Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp for a year where she was forced to work for 17 to 20 hours a day and was shocked with electric batons on her breasts and mouth causing her mouth to become disfigured.

After being released in March 2001, police continued to harass her and her school refused to reinstate her. Her husband divorced her, leaving the unemployed Wei alone to care for their 15-year-old son. In January 2002, Wei was arbitrarily arrested again and sent to Changchun city's Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp for over three years.

In October 2005, she was again sent to Heizuizi, this time for one and a half years. While she was detained, her mother passed away, but Wei was not allowed to attend the funeral. The camp also never allowed her 70-year-old father to visit her.

After the prolonged detention, Wei began feeling severe pain in her abdomen and could not eat. She asked to see a doctor, but her request was denied and labor camp officials neglected her. She was released on April 30, 2007, extremely emaciated. Her condition rapidly deteriorated and blood began appearing in her urine. She died at 4:15 p.m. on July 12, 2007, at the age of 50.

Officials responsible for Ms. Wei's death:

Zhang Baocheng, the local political-legal committee secretary: 86-437-6216968, 86-437-6210265
Zhang Zhiting, Dongfeng Police director: 86-437-6222794, 86-13904375928 (Cell)
Pan Dong, Dongfeng County Police Deputy director: 86-437-6224393, 86-13504375166 (Cell)
Li Wensheng, director of the Dongfeng 610 Office: 86-13504372728 (Cell)
Gu Jiahai, National Security Team Chief: 86-13904371222 (Cell), 86-437-6215022

Woman Dies after Family Told She Would Not be Released before the Olympics

Wang Minli, 43, was the former secretary of the Communist Youth League at the Jilin City Fur Factory in Jilin province. She had been arrested and persecuted many times since 1999. A United Nations Special Rapporteur had previously called for her rescue on May 21, 2003.

On March 15, 2007, Wang was arrested again by a group of officers from the National Security Division at Changyi District Police Department led by Du Xingze. They detained her at the Yueshan Road Police Dog Training Base in Jilin city where National Security agents beat her. They poured mustard oil in her eyes, causing blindness in one eye, and broke one of her legs by beating her with wooden sticks.

Her family went to the National Security Division following her arrest to inquire about her condition. The officials said they would neither sentence her nor would they release her until after the 2008 Olympic Games. Wang suddenly died at 2:00 p.m. on June 19, 2007.

58-year-old Woman Dies after Two Weeks in Custody

Falun Gong practitioner Fu Guiju, 58, died on June 18, 2007. She was a retiree from the Zhangjiakou city Petroleum Corporation in Hebei province. For eight years she and her husband suffered from beatings and persecution in and out of detention centers.

On May 12, 2007, when Fu was reading a Falun Gong book inside the home of an elderly fellow practitioner, authorities suddenly arrived and seized them. Fu was locked up at the Shisanli Detention Center in Zhangjiakou city. She was tortured severely until her life was in danger.

On May 21, 2007, her family members were allowed to take her home. Before she was able to recover, however, Meng Gang, Guo Long and other officers from the Qiaoxi District Police Department kidnapped her from her home on the morning of June 4. On June 19, 2007, the South Mingde Police Station notified her family that Fu had died the previous day.

According to insiders, the Shisanli Detention Center officials ordered Fu to be force-fed. This torture method involves prison guards or inmates inserting a hard plastic tube through the nose or the mouth, down the throat, and into the stomach. Then various solutions ranging from diluted porridge to salt water to human urine and feces are poured down the tube and into either the stomach or the lungs, depending on how the tube is inserted. Approximately ten percent of all recorded deaths of Falun Gong practitioners from torture in custody have come as a result of this torture method. While details remain incomplete, it appears that this was the cause of Fu's death as well.

Responsible individuals and organizations:
Zhangjiakou City Police Department: 86-313-8681234, 86-313-8688888
Command Center: 86-313-8682110
Zhangjiakou City Qiaoxi Police Station head: Zhang Yifan
Security Division head, Zhong Senlin: 86-313-8687325 (Cell)
Procuratorate head in the Qiaoxi district, Zhangjiakou city, Zhang Liang: 86-13703136881 (Cell), 86-313-8038126 (Office), 86-313-4081158 (Home)
South Mingde Police Station: 86-313-8072502 (head Meng Gang; deputy head Guo Long)
Xinhua Street Police Station: 86-313-8032977
Zhangjiakou City Detention Center head, Cui Weidong: 86-313-4021947

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NEWS - Aug. 07, 2007
Falun Dafa Information Center, www.faluninfo.net

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Background
Founded in 1999, the Falun Dafa Information Center is a New York-based organization that documents the rights violations of adherents of Falun Gong (or "Falun Dafa") taking place in the People's Republic of China. In July of 1999 China's autocratic Communist Party launched an unlawful campaign of arrests, violence, and propaganda with the intent of "eradicating" the apolitical practice; it is believed certain leaders feared the influence of the practice's 100 million adherents. The campaign has since grown in violence and scope, with millions having been detained or sent to forced labor camps. The Center has verified details of over 3,000 deaths and over 63,000 cases of torture in custody (reports / sources). Falun Gong is a traditional-style Buddhist "qigong" practice, with roots in the Chinese heritage of cultivating the mind/body for health and spiritual growth.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER- Contacts: Gail Rachlin 917-757-9780, Levi Browde 646-415-0998, Erping Zhang 646-533-6147, or Joel Chipkar 416-709-8678. Email: contact@faluninfo.net, Website: http://faluninfo.net/