Sept. 28, 2009: Falun Gong News Bulletin
News from Inside China:
• FDIC: 53-year-old Woman Dies from Torture Six Days after Arrest
• Cases of Two Elderly Falun Gong Practitioners in Danger Submitted to the United Nations for Urgent Appeal
• Chinese Human Rights Defenders: Debarred Lawyer Tortured and Arrested in Northeastern China for Defending Falun Gong
• FDIC: Attorneys Sue National Security Team in Wuhou for Denying them the Right to Meet their Falun Gong Client
News from Outside China:
• The New Republic: “Hacking the Regime: How the Falun Gong empowered the Iranian uprising”
• 23 Members of U.S. Congress Urge South Korean President Not to Deport Falun Gong Refugees to China
• Taiwanese Falun Gong criticize Hong Kong court ruling
• Italian MP Issues Statement Condemning the CCP’s Persecution of Falun Gong
FDIC: 53-year-old Woman Dies from Torture Six Days after Arrest
Sept 15: According to sources in Hebei Province, Ms. Wang Huilan was taken away by police on Sept. 1, 2009 by Zhouzhou City police. Sources familiar with her case say Ms. Wang was force fed on Sept. 7, 2009 and died that afternoon from injuries sustained during the force-feeding.
Unlike force-feeding performed by medical personnel to provide vital nutrients to a patient who will not or cannot feed themselves, force-feeding inside Chinese prisons, labor camps or detention centers is often performed as a torture method and is frequently used on Falun Gong detainees. Force-feeding has been the cause of death in approximately 10 percent of all known death cases of Falun Gong practitioners inside China.
To read more: /article/905/?cid=84
Cases of Two Elderly Falun Gong Practitioners in Danger Submitted to the United Nations for Urgent Appeal
On August 13, 2009, the Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group (FGHRWG), submitted the cases of Mr. Liu Yalin and Ms. Wei Xiuhua to the United Nations Human Rights mechanisms, urging the relevant Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups to issue an urgent appeal on behalf of the two elderly practitioners whose lives are in danger. […]
On April 17, 2009, [62-year-old] Ms. Wei Xiuhua was arrested by police officers from the Public Security Department in Jinzhou City and the Domestic Security Division in Linghai City. While in detention, the police poured hot water over Ms. Wei’s head, kicked the left side of her chest and smashed her right ear with a bottle filled with water, causing loss of hearing in her right ear. She is unable to walk on her own and has suffered heart failure, convulsions and high blood pressure. She cannot keep any food down and is very weak.
For the full details of the two cases, see: /article/907/?cid=12
Chinese Human Rights Defenders: Debarred Lawyer Tortured and Arrested in Northeastern China for Defending Falun Gong
August 27: CHRD learned today that Wang Yonghang (???), a former lawyer from Dalian City, Liaoning Province, has been formally arrested… When Wang was taken into police custody on July 4, he was severely beaten, causing fractures in his right ankle. Wang’s family and lawyer have not been allowed to meet Wang because, according to the police, his case involves “state secrets”. It is believed that Wang has been detained for his work defending Falun Gong practitioners….
“They refused to notify me when they operated on my husband, and they still refuse to let us know how the operation went. And on that very same day of the operation, they issued an arrest notice for my husband! I really don’t know what to say about this way of doing things”, says [Wang’s wife] Yu [Xiaoyan].
Wang lost his license to practice law when it was not renewed by the judicial authorities following the conclusion of his annual review on May 31, 2008. Wang has continued to defend Falun Gong practitioners, however.
To read more: http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class10/200908/20090827172912_17039.html
FDIC: Attorneys Sue National Security Team in Wuhou for Denying them the Right to Meet their Falun Gong Client
According to sources inside China, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Gu Huaibing was arrested at his job by officers from the Tiaosanta Police Station in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, on the evening of July 21, 2009. On August 5-6, his lawyers requested a meeting with him but were turned down by the team leader of the National Security Team in Chengdu’s Wuhou District.
In response, on August 13, two attorneys, Lan Zhixue and Li Jinglin, brought suit against the Procuratorate of Chengdu City and the relevant departments, arguing that the National Security Team leader had violated the [Lawyer’s] law when denying the requested meeting between the attorneys and Mr. Gu, depriving the attorney’s of their lawful right to see their client.
The New Republic: “Hacking the Regime: How the Falun Gong empowered the Iranian uprising”
September 3: “Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad like to blame the uprising in Iran on outside influences….But, for all the phantom rabble-rousers, there’s one outside influence that has actually helped shape events: the Falun Gong.
When dissident Iranians chatted with each other and the outside world, they likely had no idea that many of their missives were being guided and guarded by 50 Falun Gong programmers spread out across the United States. These programmers, who almost all have day jobs, have created programs called Freegate and Ultrasurf that allow users to fake out Internet censors….While it is hardly the only group to offer such devices, the Falun Gong’s program is particularly popular thanks to its simplicity and relative speed…
Indeed, the race to beat the Internet censors is a central battle in the global struggle for democracy–a cat-and-mouse game where the fate of regimes could rest in no small measure on the work of the Falun Gong and others who write programs to circumvent Web censorship.”
To read more: http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/hacking-the-regime?page=0,0
23 Members of U.S. Congress Urge South Korean President Not to Deport Falun Gong Refugees to China
U.S. Congressman Chris Smith, joined by 22 other Members of Congress, recently sent a letter to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak urging his government to find a way to grant safe haven to Falun Gong refugees fleeing persecution in China.
“We wish to bring to your attention the plight of 33 Chinese Falun Gong practitioners who have applied for refugee status in South Korea. According to news reports, the Chinese government is applying pressure on the South Korean government to deport these Falun Gong practitioners to China, and we have been informed that several of them have already been deported.”
“Falun Gong practitioners are among the most brutally persecuted groups in the world today. …In the past fifty years, few countries have made such rapid progress in respect for human rights as has South Korea, both as a government and as a society. It is with this in mind that we urge your government not to deport Falun Gong practitioners to China, but to find an appropriate way, within the South Korean legal system and the international conventions on torture and refugees ratified by South Korea, to permit Chinese Falun Gong practitioners to remain in South Korea.”
Taiwanese Falun Gong criticize Hong Kong court ruling
Five Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners yesterday criticized a Hong Kong court for giving in to pressure from Chinese authorities. In a legal battle that has lasted for more than six years, the Court of Appeal of the High Court of Hong Kong on Friday dismissed their appeal of a ruling in their case against Hong Kong’s Immigration Department.
The case stems from an incident in February 2003 in which Hong Kong immigration authorities refused entry to more than 80 Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners at Hong Kong International Airport. The Taiwanese had valid visas and were on their way to attend a conference.
At a press conference in Taipei, [Theresa] Chu said that in the more than 90-page long ruling, the judges devoted 60 pages to criticizing the immigration department, and by extension the Hong Kong government, for breaching the principle of “candor,” a legal duty by which the government must not purposely mislead the court or obstruct its proceedings by withholding key information. “If you just read the 60 pages where the judges criticize the Hong Kong government, you would think the court ruled in our favor — but it didn’t,” Chu said.
To read more: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/09/08/2003453047
Italian MP Issues Statement Condemning the CCP’s Persecution of Falun Gong
August 13: “On July 23, 2009, MP of the Italian Values Party (IDV) Domenico Scilipoti issued a press release in Rome, condemning the CCP’s human rights abuses of Falun Gong practitioners. …In his released statement, the Honourable Domenico Scilipoti said that it’s disgraceful that the CCP abuses basic human rights, which are recognized worldwide.
‘Its discrimination and persecution of Falun Gong practitioners who believe [in] Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is unacceptable. Men and women, young and old, every day, Falun Gong practitioners are beaten and subjected to all kinds of gross mistreatment and abuse in prison. The Chinese communist regime has also established a special department devoted solely to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. This department can ignore the Constitution and other national institutions in exercising its power.’ [Editor’s note, the reference appears to be to the extra-legal 610 Office].
To read more: http://www.examiner.com/x-16503-LA-County-Foreign-Policy-Examiner~y2009m8d13-Italian-MP-Issues-Statement-Condemning-the-CCPs-Persecution-of-Falun-Gong
