June 24, 2010: Falun Gong News Bulletin

News on events inside China

FDIC: “Falun Gong Practitioner Tortured to Death in Henan Prison Camp“
Chinese Human Rights Defenders: Democracy Activist Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Distributing Falun Gong CDs
New Tang Dynasty Television: Imprisoned mother of San Diego resident denied medical parole

News on events outside China

U.S. Government: Ambassador’s Statement at United Nations Human Rights Council mentions Falun Gong
World Affairs Journal: “Hacker Nation: China’s Cyber Assault”
The Epoch Times: Falun Dafa Association in Taiwan sues paper that printed forged announcement from Falun Gong founder

FDIC: “Falun Gong Practitioner Tortured to Death in Henan Prison Camp“

June 2: “A 46-year-old resident of Henan province who was abducted in March 2009 while talking to people in public about Falun Gong died in Zhengzhou prison camp last month, the Falun Dafa Information Center has learned. Mr. Tian Yun (??) was from Houguolei Village of Henan in Central China. Shortly after being detained on March 27, 2009, Tian was “sentenced” in a sham trial at Hui County Court to three years in a prison camp. According to sources inside China, Tian was beaten, shocked with electric batons, and deprived of water at the prison camp. The camp guards tried to force Tian to denounce Falun Gong but he refused. He continued to be tortured and died in custody as a result of the abuse.

[…] According to reports from former detainees at the camp, guards receive two to four thousand yuan for “transforming” each Falun Gong practitioner, while the prison authorities use various incentives to entice criminal inmates to participate in torturing and forcibly converting practitioners.”

To read more: /article/1055/?cid=84

Chinese Human Rights Defenders: Democracy Activist Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Distributing Falun Gong CDs

“CHRD learned on May 23 that Shenzhen democracy activist Ren Ming (??) was sentenced to three years in prison for “disseminating […] anti-government information” after he distributed compact discs bearing a Falun Gong logo. Netizens and fellow activists expressed their outrage at Ren’s conviction, both because of the harsh nature of his sentence and because some suspect that the [named] crime […] which is highly unusual, was made up by the ruling judge in Ren’s case.”

New Tang Dynasty Television: Imprisoned mother of San Diego resident denied medical parole

June 8: “Wang Chunyan was a successful businesswoman from Dalian in China’s north-eastern Liaoning Province. In 1999 she started practicing Falun Gong […] Wang was arrested again in 2007 and sentenced to five years in prison. She’s now at the Dabei Women’s Prison.

Yu Ping, [Wang’s daughter] who lives in San Diego, says prison officials notified her family in May that her mother had hypertension. Wang’s blood pressure (240/140) was so high it placed her above Stage 4 Hypertension—a condition needing immediate medical attention […]. But Yu says prison officials have denied her mother medical parole.

Yu says her father died in 2001 after trying to defend her mother from authorities: ‘My father became the target of the police’s persecution. One time, after he had an argument with the police, he disappeared for three days. He was then found unconscious on the floor at home. He was taken to the hospital, but died a month later. He never regained consciousness during that time, so no one knows what happened to him.'”

To read more: http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_china/2010-06-08/252627237211.html

U.S. Government: Ambassador’s Statement at United Nations Human Rights Council mentions Falun Gong

June 8: “The United States appreciates the opportunity to bring to the Council’s attention the following country specific situations: […] Violations of human rights by China tend to be focused on groups and individuals perceived by the Party to challenge official policy or their legitimacy. Government pressure and scrutiny of public interest and rights lawyers has increased significantly; several have been disbarred because they represented clients or cases the government deems “sensitive,” including Falun Gong members. Civil society groups and NGOs are increasingly subjected to financial and administrative controls, which are limiting their space to operate. […] Finally, restrictions and controls on Internet use and content continue.”

World Affairs Journal: “Hacker Nation: China’s Cyber Assault”

May/June: “[T]he ‘Internet Spying’ section of the 6-10 Office could find [Falun Gong practitioners’] exact location, having developed the ability to search and spy as a result of what [defector] Hao [Fengjun] describes as a joint venture between the Shandong Province public security bureau and Cisco Systems.

What emerged was a comprehensive database of people’s personal information—including 6-10’s Falun Gong lists—and a wraparound surveillance system that was quickly distributed to other provinces. The Chinese authorities called it the Golden Shield, and Hao used it on a daily basis. ‘As far as following [Falun Gong] practitioners,’ he says, ‘the Golden Shield includes the ability to monitor online chatting services and mail, identifying IPs and all of the person’s previous communication, and then being able to lock in on the person’s location—because a person will usually use the computer at home or at work. And then the arrest is carried out.’

[…] [A]s the internal war with Falun Gong dragged on, and as its overseas practitioners kept bringing graphic results of torture to the attention of the international legal system, the party felt that it had no choice but to widen the campaign. According to Hao, this explains why the first examples of hacking leading to widespread, sustained network disruption outside China were not aimed at the Pentagon or Wall Street. China’s first prolonged “denial of service” attack—essentially exhausting the bandwidth capability of a Web site until it becomes unavailable—was carried out from servers in Beijing and Shenzhen against Clearwisdom.net, the main Falun Gong practitioner site, hosted by servers in North America.”

Ethan Gutmann is the author of Losing the New China. He lives in London and is completing a history of the clash between Falun Gong and the Chinese state.

To read more: http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/articles/2010-MayJune/full-Gutmann-MJ-2010.html

The Epoch Times: Falun Dafa Association in Taiwan sues paper that printed forged announcement from Falun Gong founder

June 9: “Professor Chang Ching-Hsi, chairman of the Taiwan Falun Dafa Association (TFDA), submitted a lawsuit on June 8 to the Taipei District Court against [the] president and chief editor of United Daily News, for falsifying documents and aggravated libel. United Daily News is one of the top three newspapers in Taiwan.

On May 11, United Daily News published a notice titled ‘Announcement to Taiwan Falun Gong practitioners’ […]. The content was presented in the first person as coming from Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong and announced the dismissal of the Falun Dafa Association.

Professor Chang said this announcement was forged—it was not written by Mr. Li. In fact, Mr. Li has sent a notarized and certified statement saying the announcement in the newspaper is a fraud, that the newspaper was not authorized by him to publish this announcement, and that the content of the notice is not his intention.”