August 20: Falun Gong News Bulletin
Monitoring the Falun Gong Human Rights Crisis in China
News on Events Inside China
- FDIC: U.S. Department of Justice Decree an Important Step in Ending Chinese Communist Party Persecution of Falun Gong Overseas
- New Tang Dynasty Television: American Bar Association Grants Gao Zhisheng International Human Rights Lawyer Award
- Deutsche Presse Agenteur: Falun Gong practitioners sue Chinese official in Taiwanese court
FDIC: Middle-aged Falun Gong Practitioner Dies in Tianjin Prison Camp
Aug 17: A middle-aged Falun Gong practitioner, who had been severely tortured in custody, died last month in a prison camp in Tianjin, the Falun Dafa Information Center recently learned. The death of Mr. Zhu Wenhua (???), age 53, brings to 50 the number of Falun Gong practitioners known to have died in Tianjin since 1999 due to persecution. The confirmed death toll of Falun Gong practitioners nationwide is 3,406, but overseas human rights experts say the real death toll is likely many times that figure.
Zhu, a former employee of Tianjin’s International Heat and Ventilation Equipment Company, was abducted by police in 2003. In March 2004, Zhu was “sentenced” to eight years in a prison camp following a sham trial at Nankai District Court.
Zhu was taken to Tianjin Municipal Prison (????), where he has been held since and tortured. His family was notified that on July 19, 2010 Zhu died in custody.
To read more: /article/1070/?cid=84
Aug 16: The U.S. Department of Justice filed a consent decree on Thursday acknowledging that a Chinese restaurant in Flushing had acted inappropriately when refusing to serve Falun Gong practitioners in 2008 and that the restaurant will take various actions to prevent future discrimination. The decision represents an important precedent in resisting Chinese Communist Party (CCP) efforts to extend the persecution of Falun Gong beyond China’s borders, the Falun Dafa Information Center said Monday.
On three separate occasions during May 2008, employees of the Lucky Joy restaurant in Flushing ejected ten patrons, both Chinese and Caucasians, including an eight-year-old girl, because members of their parties wore shirts displaying the tenets of Falun Gong or other wording expressing support for the persecuted group.
Following an investigation conducted jointly by the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York that found such actions to be discriminatory, the restaurant’s owners admitted wrongdoing.
“Falun Gong practitioners are not the only victims in this incident. Overseas Chinese business owners are caught between a rock and a hard place, as the Communist Party uses economic carrots and sticks to force them to violate U.S. laws,” said Falun Dafa Information Center spokesperson Erping Zhang. “The Justice Department’s actions serve as important assistance to overseas Chinese in resisting pressure from the CCP to discriminate against Falun Gong.”
To read more: /article/1069/?cid=84
New Tang Dynasty Television: American Bar Association Grants Gao Zhisheng International Human Rights Lawyer Award
Aug 10: The American Bar Association presented its International Human Rights Lawyer Award to Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng.
Gao has been missing since last year. He resurfaced briefly in April this year, but has disappeared again since then. It’s not known whether he is detained, in hiding or is dead.
His wife and 17-year-old daughter attended the award ceremony in San Francisco on Friday, August 6th. The daughter accepted the award on her father’s behalf.
[Penny Wakefield, ABA International Human Rights Law Committee Spokesperson]:
“We presented the international human rights lawyer award to Gao Zhisheng today to recognize his longstanding commitment to human rights for all and his struggle throughout his career to represent others in need of lawyers to defend their human rights—but also for the example he sets for other lawyers in China and around the world to fight for others’ rights as well as their own.”
To read more: http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_china/2010-08-10/960007928374.html; and also: http://ethnoblog.newamericamedia.org/2010/08/aba-recognizes-imperiled-chinese-lawyer.php
Deutsche Presse Agenteur: Falun Gong practitioners sue Chinese official in Taiwanese court
Aug 16: Buddhist meditation group Falun Gong filed a criminal complaint with a Taiwan court Monday against a visiting Chinese official, accusing him of persecuting the [group].
It accused Guangdong provincal Governor Huang Huahua of genocide and violation of two United Nations treaties on civil rights. […]
Huang arrived in Taipei Monday with a Guangdong trade delegation. During the week-long visit, the group is expected to sign purchase deals worth 5.2 billion US dollars.
Teresa Chu, a lawyer for Falun Gong, said Taiwan prosecutors can order the arrest of Huang under the principle of universal jurisdiction.
“When the crime is genocide, the court in any country can handle the case. It is like Nazi criminals. No matter where they flee, the country where they have hiding can arrest them and put them on trial,” she said.
To read more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/339554,chinese-official-taiwan-court.html;
See also: http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_china/2010-08-18/079443601175.html
