(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners held a candlelight vigil outside the Chinese consulate in Auckland, New Zealand, on July 20, 2021, to mourn practitioners who were tortured to death by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over the past 22 years, and to call on the New Zealand people to oppose China’s human rights atrocities.
As night fell, practitioners held portraits of practitioners who have lost their lives in the persecution, along with candles. Each photo has a sad story of how a Falun Gong practitioner sacrificed their life to follow the principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance,” as a battle between good and evil unfolded on earth.
A constant stream of cars drove past the vigil, and drivers pressed their horns one after another to express their respect and best wishes for Falun Gong practitioners.
Falun Gong practitioners hold a candlelight vigil outside the Chinese consulate in Auckland, New Zealand, to mourn practitioners who were killed in China for their belief.
Human Rights Lawyer Calls for Legislation to Stop Transplant Tourism
Kerry Gore, human rights lawyer, spoke at the candlelight vigil.
Kerry Gore, a human rights lawyer in New Zealand, spoke to the crowd at the vigil.He said that July 20, 2021, marks 22 years that the CCP has been persecuting Falun Gong practitioners in China.
“Falun Dafa practitioners have been subjected to many different forms of persecution in the course of this campaign, to the extent of involuntary live organ harvesting of one’s vital organs leading to the practitioner’s death,” Mr. Gore said. “The latter is a form of state-sanctioned murder.”
“The CCP has violated a number of international human rights law instruments, notably, the 1948 United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the United Nations Convention against Torture, to name only a few,” he said.
“Recently, a poll revealed that a very significant majority of New Zealanders surveyed want the New Zealand Government to do more about raising human rights concerns with the CCP. It is my hope that Members of Parliament will support the passage of urgent legislation that renders unlawful this egregious practice of transplant tourism, thus saving lives,” he said.
The CCP’s Persecution Destroyed My Family
Falun Gong practitioner Huang Guohua worked in the glass processing industry before the persecution began. He had a promising future and a happy family. His wife Luo Zhixiang was a building designer at the head office of an agricultural development company in Guangdong Province. Mr. Huang and his pregnant wife were arrested for their belief in 2002. He endured nearly three years of illegal detention, and physical and mental torture, before he fled China in 2004. His wife and his unborn child were killed by the CCP in 2002.
During his illegal detention, Huang was once forced to have a physical examination.
“Based on my current understanding of forced removal of organs, I have enough reason to believe the blood test was done to match my blood type in preparation for taking my organs,” Mr. Huang said. “I was spared because I did not match the requirements. Not only was I physically tortured during my incarceration, I suffered great mental impairment as well. Even today, after leaving China over a decade ago, I often have nightmares about the policemen searching everywhere for me. I am still plagued by fear.”
“Today, I expose the evil nature of the regime with my personal experience. I hope more people can learn the truth and stand on the side of justice,” he said.
This Persecution Should Not Have Happened
Luna condemns the CCP for killing her mother.
Luna is the daughter of Huang Guohua and Luo Zhixiang. She was two years old when her mother and unborn sibling were killed. “I never really understood why I didn’t have a mom while other children did,” she said. “It was always a fact that I accepted as a child, but I never really understood its significance.
“I know from pictures that I had attended my mom’s funeral as a toddler. It was not until I grew older that I understood that a large part of my family was gone… my mother and a younger sibling who I never got to meet. My dad told me a story of when I was three. I saw a mother hug her child on the bus and I suddenly started bursting out crying and asking why other kids had a mom when I didn’t?
The loss of her mother when she was so young affected her deeply. “Like so many other families affected by the persecution, I’m not the only one who’s lost someone. Many Falun Gong practitioners have lost their children, their spouses, their parents, and extended family. The trauma stays with them, even years down the line, just like me.
“Though I can’t bring my mom back, I can speak up and share my experiences, so people are aware, so something can be done about this. The persecution should have never happened in the first place. No one should have to die for their beliefs,” she said.
Reject the CCP, Choose a Bright Future
He Sanpu urges Chinese people to quit the CCP and choose a bright future.
He Sanpu, formerly a deputy director of the Henan Province propaganda department, began to practice Falun Gong in 1996. Before the persecution, he had won awards for his work. After the persecution began, he and his family were brutally tortured, and he nearly died.
“Out of his own personal jealousy and fear of ‘Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance’, former head Jiang Zemin and his gang launched a brutal campaign to wipe out Falun Gong,” Mr. He said. “The regime mobilized the whole country to defame the practice, deceiving Chinese citizens and the whole world. That’s why Falun Gong practitioners have continued to tell people the facts about the practice and have resisted the persecution for 22 years.”
“While committing genocide, the CCP stole organs and sold them for huge profits, a form of evil that is unprecedented. This is a systematic crime involving the Party, the military, and doctors.”
“The CCP’s persecution of ‘Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance’ is an attack on one’s moral bottom line and conscience. It has led to the total collapse of moral standards in Chinese society and threatens to eliminate traditional Chinese culture. Chinese people have lost their cultural heritage and become a race without spirit and roots.”
“Reject the CCP, withdraw from the Party and its affiliated associations. Don’t collude with the evil, follow human morals. Keeping silent about the CCP’s crimes is the same as helping them do evil. My fellow Chinese citizens, quickly renounce your memberships in the Party; only then will you have a bright future.”
Canberra: Candlelight Vigil Held To Stop the Brutal Persecution
Practitioners held a candlelight vigil at the Chinese embassy in Canberra, Australia, on July 19, 2021, to commemorate the lives of practitioners who were tortured to death in China.
Practitioners held a candlelight vigil at the Chinese embassy in Canberra to commemorate Falun Gong practitioners persecuted to death for their faith.
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Hao Li said that the CCP has resorted to all kinds of rogue means to make practitioners give up their belief.
“In the 22 years of persecution, countless practitioners and their families were subjected to long-term surveillance, arrests, imprisonment, and torture. Many families were broken up. The most evil crime is the forced removal of organs,” she said.
“For 22 years, Falun Gong practitioners in China and overseas have risked their lives and given their all to resist the persecution, with no regrets or complaints. It is our belief in ‘Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance’ that brought us together. No matter how rampant the CCP is, we will not waver and will not give in to pressure. We will expose the regime’s lies about Falun Gong one by one and spread the beauty of the practice throughout the world.”
Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Liu was forced to leave China to avoid persecution.
“Tonight, holding a flower wreath, I am reminded of fellow practitioners whom I clarified the truth with in China. Some were killed while in prison while others continue to suffer brutal torture in prison. I hope this persecution will end soon,” he said.
When the CCP launched its persecution campaign on July 20, 1999, Mr. Liu too felt unprecedented pressure. He went to Beijing to appeal in October 1999, but he was arrested before he made it to the appeals office, and was detained for 15 days. He was arrested again in 2000 and 2005. During the three times he was detained, he was subjected to all sorts of torture.
“The guards would get those who had given up the practice to try to convince me to renounce my faith too,” he recalled. “I was brainwashed from morning to night. A month later, I was sentenced to a labor camp for three years.
“At the labor camp, I sat on a stool every day and was not allowed to talk to anyone. I was made to sit for over 12 hours a day. My bottom that was in contact with the stool felt like needles. I endured the pain daily. Often, drug addicts were arrested and held in the same cell, which was less than 20 square meters. When it was crowded, you were squished even when sleeping on your side, chests touched your back. It was hard to breathe, and if you sat up, you would not be able to lie down again. We were forced to listen to broadcasts defaming Dafa from morning to night. My health deteriorated under such physical and mental torture. When I was released three years later, my condition was very frail,” he said.
“Police officers often came to harass me at home after my release. In 2015 and 2016, the police ordered me to go to the police station for blood tests and thumb prints. I knew about organ harvesting at the time. My family protected me and I escaped persecution,” he said.
According reports from the Minghui website, in the first half of 2021, 9,470 practitioners from 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities were arrested. Their homes were ransacked, they were harassed, detained, beaten, and indicted, and 674 were unlawfully sentenced. Among these practitioners were government officials, university lecturers, professors, lawyers, journalists, police officers, engineers, accountants, doctors, and businessmen. The oldest was 94 and the youngest was just 12.
“In this free country, I cherish the cultivation environment,” Mr. Liu said. “So many veteran practitioners continue to face arrests and other forms of persecution in China. I hope that together with practitioners and people overseas, we can end this persecution sooner and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
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Category: July 20 Events
