My Experience of Learning and Practicing Falun Dafa in Prison

                      

August 26, 2012 | By practitioner in China

 

(Minghui.org) I was arrested in January 1998 for kidnapping, and imprisoned for 13 years. I was affected by the moral turpitude in society, but I was also trying to get revenge on the victim. I reasoned that there were many bad people doing worse things than this without repercussions. I had also done some good things for people, but now I was suffering nonetheless. It seemed that it wouldn't be worthwhile to be a nice person in this society, because nice people were always taken advantage of and bullied. I was very confused about what I should do.

One of my friends visited me in prison in May 1999, and he gave me two books, Zhuan Falun and Essentials for Further Advancement, and he asked me to read them when I had time. I wasn't very interested when I heard that the books were about qigong, but my friend recommended that I take a look at them anyway. So I took the books to my cell and read them when I had time. After I read them, I found that my confusion was gone. I had received the answers to the questions I had previously. I believed in the saying, “...doing good deeds is met with good rewards, and being evil is met with evil returns.” (Zhuan Falun) I now believed it to be true. I knew I could only gain good results in life if I was a good person. I decided to be a nice person as instructed in the books.

I tried to practice the exercises as well, but I didn't know the exact movements. I learned some things from one person, who said that he had seen people practicing Falun Dafa. So I practiced in the way he taught me. I later discovered that those movements were wrong. Two months later, the persecution of Falun Dafa began. I saw that what was propagated on TV about Falun Dafa was totally different from what I had learned from the books. I believed that the books were correct, so I kept on reading the books and being a good person. After a while, I found that my physical problems, including neurasthenia and insomnia, had disappeared. I became healthier and had more energy. I felt that Falun Dafa was good indeed!

Some people reported to the guards that I was practicing Falun Dafa, and the guards talked with me about this. They told me that if I gave up practicing Falun Dafa, they would find me a good job and release me from prison early. At that time, I thought that if I could not practice Falun Dafa, I would not be able to tell right from wrong, and I would also not be a good person. I would probably do bad things as before and end up back in this place again. Therefore, I told the guards that I would continue practicing. I was then transferred to another jail, the place where the Falun Dafa practitioners were persecuted in our province. This place was also called the “strict management team.”


I was imprisoned separately in a small room. I was ordered to fold a pile of bags, which I refused to do. I was then beaten by several men with clubs. I felt no pain at the time because Master helped me suffer through it. I still refused to fold the bags and they had to give up on me that day. I was held in a room and not allowed to go out. I was given only very little food at each meal. They did whatever they wanted to me. In June 2001, I was told that if I wanted to get out of that place, I had to write a repentance statement, but I refused to do so. They tried to force me to write a repentance statement by threatening to prolong my years in jail and increase my physical suffering.


Facing ten more years of life in jail and physical suffering, caused me indecision. I was fighting with myself in my mind and I didn't know what to do. I had no idea what to do, even after I thought about it for several days. I finally realized that I would not find answers by thinking about the situation in this way. I had to release all thoughts and empty my mind. I asked myself from the bottom of my heart, what did I really want? Continuing to clarify the truth and acknowledge that Falun Dafa was good was what I wanted most. I then decided to persist in clarifying the truth and validating Falun Dafa no matter what I met with, even if it meant sacrificing my life.


As soon as I thought about the situation in this way, I felt more at ease and happier. Two weeks later, I was assigned to a group. It was a group in which a dozen criminals lived together. The guard asked a criminal named Song to force me to write the repentant statement, but I refused. Then they found a way. They asked a mentally ill criminal to “take care” of me and make me listen to him, but I would not. Song shut me in a room and slapped me around several times. He blocked the door to the room and didn't allow me to leave. I told him to get out of the way three times and finally he did. I went out to report the abuse to the guards, but the guards hid and would not come out. I later saw guards in another room and I went there to try to talk with them. However, the criminal guarding the door would not let me pass through. Hearing the noise at the door, all the police officers came out and approached me with handcuffs and truncheons. They didn't ask me any questions or say anything to me, and proceeded to beat me. I was hung up from an iron pole by handcuffs and wasn't released until I lost consciousness. I was then sent back to my room.

I was later transferred to another team where I was treated with even more contemptible ways. Two criminals were assigned to be my “personal monitors” and they harassed me. However, they still couldn't make me give up practicing Falun Dafa.

I received Master’s articles from other practitioners who had been illegally sentenced, and I realized that Dafa practitioners should come out and validate Dafa. However, I was in prison, so how could I go out and validate Dafa? I was enlightened by the stories of how fellow practitioners worked at exposing the persecution and validating Dafa. I also found my own ways to do so. The prison usually held a flag raising activity and allowed prisoners to celebrate and pledge together when the holidays came. I decided to use this chance to pledge my thoughts as well. After preparing and practicing several times, I called out, “Falun Dafa is good!” just before other criminals were about to recite a pledge at the “Labor Day” (Chinese holiday) flag raising ceremony. At first I was hesitant, but after I called out, I no longer felt scared. I felt energized with power and refreshed. It was so good! The guards were frightened by my actions. They pulled me away from the ceremony and put me in the confinement room.

In the confinement room, the guards tried to make me stand facing the wall, but I refused to do that, so they beat me with a wide wooden stick with thorns on it. They beat on my legs and back with all their strength. I used the supernatural power given to me by Master to resist the beating and let the pain return to the guards. I felt no pain. The stick broke after several minutes and the evil ones threw it away and left.

At another time, I was practicing the Falun Gong exercises and the guards caught me and sent me to the confinement room. I continued practicing, even with the handcuffs on my hands. I was forced to stand facing the south wall. I remembered what Master had said,

“No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil’s demands, orders, or what it instigates. If everyone does this the environment won’t be this way.”

(“Dafa Disciples’

 

 

Righteous Thoughts are Powerful,” from Essentials for Further Advancement II)

So I refused to stand facing the wall. The police officer beat me with his truncheon, but I was still not conquered. Then he left angrily. Several other men handcuffed me and hung me from the door beam.

They later transferred me to another squadron. I stayed there for 7 to 8 years and contested with the evil the entire time. The guards said that if I was so firm in my practice just through reading the books, what would I do if I had another practitioner to study with? They feared it would be more difficult to "transform" me. They found that they could not make me waver and eventually gave up. Later, another practitioner really did arrive.

The practitioner was in his sixties. When he arrived, he was persecuted and attempts were made to force him to write the three statements (“repentance statement," "guarantee statement" and "dissociation statement"). We talked with each other and decided we would never “transform,” never write the statements, and never do anything not in accordance with Dafa. We sent forth righteous thoughts together to disintegrate the evil. The guards ordered two murderers to “personally monitor” the practitioner and promised to reduce his sentence by four months if he wrote the statements. The two criminals started to persecute the practitioner unscrupulously. They forced him to stand in front of the window in the cold of winter, beat him with clubs, forced him to stand for long periods, etc. I sent forth righteous thoughts and reported the beatings to the prison authorities. They pretended that they didn't know this was happening. So I told them the whole story. They could no longer deny it so they said they would take care of it. The criminals then brought the practitioner to a secret room and I could not hear any noise. Whenever I had a chance to meet with my fellow practitioner, I encouraged him with Master’s Fa.

One afternoon after that, the practitioner fainted because of the abuse he was suffering. He was sent to the hospital and with the protection of Master, he was fine. Afterwards, the guards got rid of those two criminals and stopped the severe persecution of this practitioner. Later, three more fellow practitioners arrived and the environment became easier for us. We communicated, learned together, sent forth righteous thoughts, and resisted the persecution together. We all came to understand how to oppose the evil persecution.

With the progression of Master’s Fa-rectification, I feel that the evil factors are less than they were years ago. We should seize the time to clarify the truth and save people by persuading them to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). We all cooperated and worked together. While some clarified the truth, the others helped to send forth righteous thoughts. The environment became better and better. By the time I left that place, more than half of the prisoners had already quit the CCP. I know there was still much more to do compared with some fellow practitioners who had persuaded almost all people in the prison to quit the CCP.

There are more stories to be told during this long journey. It seemed that I suffered a lot during the 13 years in jail, but I feel very fortunate to know and study Falun Dafa. The greatest lesson that I learned is that if we can do what our Master tells us to, we can find the way to get through. I now know that I can stay with Master’s righteous Fa and be a Fa-rectification period Dafa practitioner. It is my long-time dream and sacred vow. It is also the mercy and kindness of Master. I will cherish the opportunity to take on the responsibility and mission of a Dafa practitioner and help save the people lost in the lies.

Due to my limited knowledge, I welcome suggestions from fellow practitioners.

Chinese version available

How Many People Would Have Benefited from Falun Gong Had It Not Been for the Persecution?

                      

August 25, 2012 | By Xiao Yan, a Minghui correspondent from Canada

 

(Minghui.org) On May 8, 2012, Ms. Jin went to the immigration office early in the morning for an interview with an immigration officer about her residence permit in Canada. In their talk she briefly told the officer about the remarkable improvement in her physical condition, comparing it to before she practiced Falun Gong, which her son recommended to her. The officer was quite moved by her story and granted her the residence permit. He was so convinced by her comments that he said he would some day try practicing Falun Gong.

At a celebration of the 20^th anniversary of Falun Gong's public introduction held in Montreal, Canada, Ms. Jin distributed Falun Gong materials

In her 70s, Ms. Jin has to stay in Canada as a refugee because she cannot return to China. She cannot return because she practices Falun Gong, which is being viciously attacked by the Chinese regime. Like many others, she took up the practice to be healed. It did not let her down, and the diseases that were considered incurable by the medical community disappeared without her taking any medicine. She was upset by the fact that Falun Gong, which originated in China, could not be practiced in China, and she had to come to Canada to practice. Falun Gong, which has now been embraced in more than 100 countries around the world, has been widely recognized by the public, garnering more than 2,000 official awards from the governments of different countries. China, on the other hand, is seeking to eradicate it. Deterred by the persecution, she did not dare to try it when she was in China, and she suffered with her bad health for a decade longer. Who is to blame? Ms. Jin's story is definitely not the only one, as many others had similar experiences.


After its introduction to the public in 1992, Falun Gong could be seen in almost every corner of China, including parks, school campuses, and factories. The popularity of the free practice grew rapidly, and over 100 million people became practitioners, many of whom regained their health, including some patients with terminal cancer. The practitioners also enjoyed better relationships with their family members and others, which, in turn, largely stabilized Chinese society. Despite this, in 1999 the Chinese Communist regime, then headed by Jiang Zemin, launched the persecution of Falun Gong, aiming to eradicate the practice from China. The police, secret agents, and judiciary systems are involved in the persecution. Illegal arrests, incarcerations, forced labor, imprisonment, and cruel torture are widely used to break the practitioners' faith in Falun Gong. Many of them even had their organs removed while they were still alive, with their organs used for transplants that profited the government. The Chinese regime's slanderous attacks on Falun Gong deterred many people from even approaching it.


Fortunately, Ms. Jin was able to leave China and come to Canada, where she met with Falun Gong and was given a new lease on life free from any ailment.


In a celebration of the 20^th anniversary of Falun Gong's introduction to the public on May 5, 2012, in Montreal, Ms. Jin, dressed in traditional Korean attire, stood on a platform and said, “I am over 70 years old now. I have practiced Falun Gong for only two years, but I have been completely cured by the practice and I have regained my health. I am full of joy and happy, and I have a good outlook on life.


“When I was in China, my husband told me that I had protrusion of the lumbar intervertebral disc and hyperosteogeny. This overgrowth of bone in my vertebra constricted the nerves, and I was disabled when I walked. All too often my legs hurt and were numb. Sometimes the bones hurt even when I was lying in bed. The worst thing was that the pain often intensified at night and would wake me up. I consulted many doctors. They suggested that I choose either Western or Chinese medicine. In Western medicine I could have surgery to remove the peripheral tissue around the openings in the vertebrae so that the nerves would not be constricted. In Chinese medicine I could only ease the pain, and the best way to do that was acupuncture. I resorted to acupuncture. ”


The acupuncture remedy did made it possible for her to do the paperwork that was needed for her to go to Canada. She said, “My son had sent me the invitation letter to go to Canada a long time before, and he kept pushing me over the telephone to do the paperwork as soon as possible. I did not let him know how bad I was, lest he worry about me. So I just said, 'I can do the paperwork little by little. There is no reason to hurry.' I simply could not hurry because I could barely move.”
Ms. Jin has two children, but neither one lived with her and she was living alone. She said, “After a period of treatment I could walk, so I went to Beijing to do the paperwork that was needed to go abroad. After I had a physical exam, I was granted a visa to go to Canada. ”


Finding it hard to move around, Ms. Jin felt helpless and frustrated. After many considerations, she chose Air Korea for her flight to Canada. She said, “I chose Air Korea because I did not need to collect my luggage when I changed airplanes as it would be delivered directly to my destination. All other airlines require their passengers collect their bags when they change planes, and they have to go through the check-in process for the next flight. So I took an Air Korea flight to Toronto, and my son picked me up.”


Having been ill for so many years, Ms. Jin relied heavily on medicine. She said, “When I first came to Canada I carried with me many different kinds of medicine, especially painkillers. I ate the painkillers when my lower back and legs hurt, but the pain persisted. Seeing this, my son said to me, 'Mother, please listen to me. You can try Falun Gong. Just give it a try to see if it works. Just try it.'”
She continued, “Finding it hard to say no to my son's advice, I decided to give Falun Gong a try. With the guidance of my son, I read the Falun Gong literature and did the Falun Gong exercises for two hours every day. After two months, to my surprise, I found myself much more agile than before. Take going upstairs as an example. Before, I had to drag my feet up step by step. One day not long after I had been practicing Falun Gong I could go up like a healthy person.”


Besides her lower back problem, Ms. Jin also had serious headaches from a car accident. She said, “I also had suffered from headaches. In the 1970s I hit my head in a traffic accident and seriously injured it, for which I was hospitalized for a long time. One year after I returned home from the hospital, I had serious headaches and periods of unconsciousness. I asked the doctors for help, but they could do nothing, saying it was a side effect from my injuries in the traffic accident. They could only advise me to take painkillers when the pain was too much to tolerate. I had no choice but to accept it, thinking that the headaches would be with me until the day I died. When the pain came on, I needed to take a dozen painkillers, as one or two would do nothing to ease the pain. I later had to carry painkillers with me whenever I went out; I ate them like candy.”


The painkillers had side effects. She said, “After several decades of eating painkillers, one day I ended up with gastric perforation and a gastric ulcer. Painkillers can harm the stomach with their corrosive chemical compounds. My stomach was so eroded that it perforated, which further caused gastric hemorrhage. At first I did not realize the problem until one day I fell down and fainted, which was caused by anemia. In the hospital I was diagnosed with insufficient blood supply. I was then examined with a gastroscope, and they found the perforation.”


Ms. Jin's headaches made her bad-tempered. She said, “The headaches made me paranoid and irritable. I have a daughter and a son. My daughter sometimes complained that I wronged them in almost everything. I was so distracted by my headaches, but they did not understand me. I thought I had to go on without their understanding me, and perhaps they would change later.”
The headaches from the traffic accident, the gastric perforation caused by overuse of painkillers, the protrusion of the lumbar inveterbral disc, and hyperosteogeny had Ms. Jin seeking medical treatment for most of her life. She said, “Two months after practicing Falun Gong, my lower back pain and the numbness in my limbs were gone. It was so surprising. Furthermore, my headaches just disappeared. When I had the headaches I had extremely poor memory. My head is now very clear, and I've recovered my memory.”


After two years of practicing Falun Gong, in addition to regaining her health, she also has a positive and pleasant outlook on life, something that she had never experienced before. She said, “How happy I would have been if I were like I am now when I was young. I now live with Falun Gong practitioners, and we do the Falun Gong practice together. I am so happy. I wish I'd been able to practice since I was young. That would have been magnificent.”

Chinese version available

Mr. Zheng Xiangxing Sentenced to Ten-Year Prison Term (Photos)

                    

(Minghui.org) Mr. Zheng Xiangxing from Tanghai County in Tangshan was arrested on February 25, 2012. He was then sentenced to a ten-year prison term on July 26, 2012. A petition signed by 526 people was sent to the local government demanding his release. When people later heard that Mr. Zheng was in critical condition as a result of torture, over 1,200 people joined in the effort to demand his release.

Mr. Zheng Xiangxing

Petition supporting Mr. Zheng Xiangxing's release

Mr. Zheng runs a well respected and popular small appliance store in Tanghai. At approximately 6:00 a.m. on February 25, 2012, Li Fuguo from the Tanghai Domestic Security Division, along with the head of Shinongchang Police Station, led over a dozen officers to Mr. Zheng's home. Two female officers tricked Mr. Zheng into opening his door by pretending that they needed help with their car. They arrested Mr. Zheng and confiscated several small appliances. People around the store at the time were outraged and started shouting at the police.

Mr. Zheng was held in detention for over a month and became emaciated due to the severe persecution to which he was subjected. A total of 526 residents from Shinongchang and Shiyinongchang signed a petition demanding his release and sent it to the local government offices. Over the next several days, Li Fuguo and Liu Jiaman, the assistant director of Tanghai Police Department, threatened local residents and tried to get them to sign guarantee statements promising not to support Falun Gong, but no one would sign.

After people heard that Mr. Zheng was in critical condition as a result of being tortured in the detention center, 1,200 people from eight towns in Tangshan and Qinhuangdao joined in efforts to demand his release. A young lady in her early twenties signed her name on the petition, but they had run out of ink for her fingerprints. She then pricked her finger to make it bleed, then left the fingerprint on the petition form.

Manipulation of the Verdict

During Mr. Zheng's trial on May 29, 2012 an unidentified man sat in the observation area, and repeatedly gestured signals to the judge. If the man moved his finger when the judge was talking, the judge either stopped talking or changed the direction of his speech. When the defending lawyer spoke, this man either kicked the table or made other sudden movements to disturb the proceedings. The court staff even stated that the verdict was not decided by the court, but came from higher authorities.

On the day that Mr. Zheng was arrested, Li Fuguo also mentioned that he'd received orders from higher authorities to arrest him. On June 13, after Mr. Zheng's wife Ms. Sun Suyun had exposed the persecution to the international media, she was arrested by order of the Hebei Province 610 Office in Tangshan. Sun Jingsen from the Tanghai Domestic Security Division then made the arrest. Mr. Wu Qingmin and his wife Ms. Zheng Lanrong were also arrested in connection with the petition forms being delivered to the local government offices. Those who made the arrests told them that they were following orders from the Tanghai 610 Office.

Mr. Zheng is currently being held at Tanghai County Detention Center, where he held a hunger strike to protest the persecution.

Those responsible for the persecution:
Ding Jianyi, head of Tanghai Detention Center: +86-13582500896 (Cell), +86-315-8717698
Yang Limin, head of Tanghai County Court: +86-315-8723599 (Office), +86-315-2048528 (Home), +86-13582912811 (Cell)
Bai Yuli, head of Tanghai County Police Department: +86-13832985038 (Cell), +86-315-8711758
Li Fuguo, team leader of Tanghai County Domestic Security Division: +86-13832886232 (Cell)
Qiu Zheng, head of Tanghai County 610 Office: +86-315-8700710, +86-315-8982829, +86-13903159399 (Cell), +86-18831500088 (Cell)

Overseas Practitioners Should Give Chinese Tourists Software for Overcoming the Great Firewall

                

(Minghui.org) A lot of people from mainland China are traveling overseas, and many of them have gone back home with truth-clarifying materials, books, newspapers, periodicals, or video discs. But there were also a lot of people that were so intimidated by their tour guides that they didn't dare bring anything back with them. In addition, those newspapers or periodicals, etc. may be only good for a given period of time and their contents are rather limited.

Therefore, I recommend all overseas truth-clarifying spots have discs made for overcoming the Great Firewall. Practitioners can distribute a full-featured version of software for overcoming the Great Firewall as published on the Minghui website, together with simple instructions for usage placed inside an exquisite small cover. As it is small and convenient to carry, and without sensitive content on the cover, it can be widely distributed and can be effective for a long time. It is an efficient way to clarify the truth and will be popular.

Software Description:

The disc contains the world-renowned Freegate series and UltraReach (Wujieliulan) soft-ware for breaking through the Great Firewall in China

◎ They can be downloaded free
◎ They are exceedingly encrypted to ensure privacy and security
◎ The software includes a key for automatic upgrades

To download Freegate:
http://www.dit-inc.us/freegate

To download Wujieliulan:
http://forums.internetfreedom.org/index.php?topic=17144.0

Help for usage:
Place the CD in the computer CD-ROM drive. It will automatically show the interface and is easy to follow. If the computer does not play automatically, double-click the FanQiang.exe file provided in the CD package.
Software for overcoming the Great Firewall can be copied to any computer hard drive. Double-click the .exe file and follow the instructions provided.

Washington, DC: Press Conference Calls for Investigation of Organ Harvesting

                    

 

(Minghui.org) On August 17, the Washington DC Falun Dafa Association held a press conference at the National Press Club. The association made an urgent appeal to the international community, governments of all countries and media outlets, calling for investigation of the Chinese Communist regime’s atrocities of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.

Falun Dafa Association held a press conference at the National Press Club to call for investigation of organ harvesting atrocities

In the past week, Chinese and English media outlets uncovered stories behind the case against Bo Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. According to the


Epoch Times, the key issue of the case has been covered up. That is, that Bo and Gu were heavily involved in harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners, selling organs and corpses of those practitioners for profit. Reports say that the real reason for Heywood's murder was because of his knowledge of these crimes. Out of fear of being murdered for the same reason, Wang Lijun, former Chongqing Deputy Mayor, sought asylum at the US Consulate in Chengdu and provided a large amount of evidence of organ harvesting and other crimes to the US government.
At the press conference, Terri Wu, spokeswoman for the Washington DC Falun Dafa Association, urged the international community, governments of all nations, and media outlets to investigate the atrocities of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners, and called on the Chinese Communist regime to open all labor camps, prisons and related detention facilities for international investigation.


From 2000 to 2003, tens of thousands Falun Gong practitioners went to Beijing to appeal for the practice and were thus detained. In October 2001, based on the sale of steamed buns by street vendors, Beijing Public Security Bureau estimated that there were 1 million Falun Gong practitioners who went to Beijing for appeal. Because the regime adapted a policy of going after people and units associated with arrested Falun Gong practitioners, they often chose to not to give out their names so that they would not be sent back to their hometown and thus cause others harm. Consequently, there were many Falun Gong practitioners that the Beijing government had no place to send. While many local governments took a passive position in adapting the persecution policy, to seek promotion, Bo


Xilai, then Dalian mayor, aggressively carried out the persecution. After he was promoted to Governor of Liaoning Province, many practitioners detained in Beijing were sent to Liaoning.
Ms. Wu said: “While Beijing Public Security could not send those practitioners to their hometowns and detention facilities in many provinces were packed, the Chinese Communist regime transferred those practitioners to newly formed concentration camps and underground prisons. Consequently, these practitioners who were mostly from Northeast and North China disappeared… Under the policy that 'deaths of Falun Gong practitioners will be recorded as suicide or natural causes,' practitioners became the targets for organ harvesting because of the huge profit involved.”


Witness: Forced Blood Testing, Fellow Inmates Disappeared

Practitioner Ma Chunmei recounted her experience in China

Practitioner Ma Chunmei came from Northeast China. She was arrested four times and twice detained at the notorious Heizuizi Women's Labor Camp in Changchun City, experiencing all kinds of physical and mental torture. Ma said that she was tied to small wooden bed for three days straight, with each of her limbs tied to four poles of the bed. She could not move and was not given even one drop of water. It was so painful that she felt that she was dying. In addition, she also went through many other forms of torture, including electric shock torture.


While the labor camp used all kinds of torture methods against the practitioners including Ma, and many practitioners died from torture, it seemed unusual that many practitioners were forced to take blood tests. According to Ma, she was forced to take a blood test and yet she never got the test results. To her knowledge, every Falun Gong practitioner in the camp was forced to take this test. While she did not know what the test was for at the time, she now realizes that such a test was to build a database for organ transfer.



She said: “My fellow practitioners Feng Yanxi and Zhao Lianhua were dying after a short time in the camp. We did not know how the camp tortured them, as we could not see any cuts or injuries on their bodies. After they lost consciousness, they were taken out and never returned. Their whereabouts remain unknown as of today. I am afraid that they died and it is very possible that they were killed for their organs.”
Doctors Condemn Organ Harvesting

Dr. Crystal Fang, a representative of Doctors Against Organ Harvesting (DAFOH), introduced the book State Organs at the press conference

Dr. Crystal Fang from Doctors Against Organ Harvesting (DAfOH) introduced a new book State Organs at the press conference. The book was edited by the founder of DAFOH, Dr. Torsten Trey, and renowned human rights lawyer David Matas. After Davis Matas and David Kilgour’s book Bloody Harvest, the Killing of Falun Gong for their Organs, this is the second publication about the organ harvesting atrocities in China.


This book collected several manuscripts of renowned doctors in the organ transplant field. These papers analyzed the Chinese Communist regime’s atrocities of harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience, especially Falun Gong practitioners, and appealed for action from the international community.


For example, after learning about the organ harvesting atrocities in China, Israel doctor Jacob Lavee urged his country to pass a new organ transplant law to prevent Israeli citizens from going China for organ transplantation. Writer Ethan Gutmann did his own investigation using a methodology different from Matas and Kilgour. He estimated that 65,000 practitioners have likely been killed for their organs. His estimation was close to the findings of Bloody Harvest.


Ms. Fang quoted George Weigel, a distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, who called it “government-run Chinese medicine, which has become a lethal enterprise.”
She said: “Medicine should be a profession of trust by people and built upon a solid moral standard. This is especially important for the profession of organ transplantation. Doctors are supposed to save people. How can they take part in organ harvesting?”

Organ Harvesting Noted in Human Rights Report by the Department of State


On May 24, 2012, the US Department of State issued the 2011 human rights report, which noted that media outlets and human rights groups had reported cases of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners in China.


On July 25, the day after the Sino-American Human Rights Dialogue, Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, was asked if the materials from Wang Lijun included information about organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners. Posner did not give a straight answer. But he said that reports from the US Embassy to China and State Department had enough information.


It is also worth noting that since June 2011, the US Department of State added a new question in its non-immigrant visa application form DS-160: “Have you ever been directly involved in the coercive transplantation of human organs or bodily tissue?”

Conference host Dr. Huang calls for action from the international community to end the atrocities

Dr. Huang, host of the press conference, commented: “After the World War II, people found out that the Nazi regime killed over 6 million Jews. People from all nations then pledged: 'Never Again!' Can we let history be repeated? Please go to China to investigate! We want to see immediate action to stop this crime against humanity!”

Lawyer Defends Ms. Wei Hongya in Court, Calls Shen Yun Performing Arts “The Pride of Chinese Culture”

                    

August 20, 2012 | By a Minghui correspondent from Jiangsu province

(Minghui.org) The Tinghu District Court in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, tried Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wei Hongya on August 8, 2012. Ms. Wei pleaded not guilty. Her lawyer stated that Ms. Wei's actions of practicing Falun Gong and disseminating Shen Yun and the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party DVDs are not crimes. Furthermore, the lawyer praised the Shen Yun Performing Arts show as being "The pride of Chinese culture."  Ms. Wei was arrested in early May 2012, and was sent to trial by the police, the Procuratorate, and the court three months later.  During Ms. Wei's not-guilty plea, her lawyer pointed out that according to China's constitution, Ms. Wei's actions of believing, practicing, and promoting Falun Gong, and clarifying the truth about it to the public, were well within her legal rights of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religious belief. The lawyer stated that no one is entitled to strip those rights away from her. Ms.


Wei's lawyer pointed out that Falun Gong practitioners not only did not interfere with the implementation of the law, but they are actually maintaining the dignity of the Constitution and the law, and their behavior was beneficial to society. Ms. Wei's actions of recommending Falun Gong to others and promoting its benefits, are permitted by law, and the principles of Falun Gong – Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance – are universal values which are recognized by all humankind.  In regards to distributing Shen Yun Performing Arts show DVDs and New Tang Dynasty TV program DVDs, Ms. Wei's lawyer stated that the Shen Yun show presents the characteristics of traditional Chinese values and high artistic standards.


During its world tour, Shen Yun has been welcomed and very well received by audiences in many different countries. The lawyer sees the Shen Yun show as the pride of Chinese culture and a spiritual asset to humanity.  On distributing the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, Ms. Wei's lawyer reputed that Ms. Wei was merely criticizing the current political affairs and the ruling party. Article 41 in the Constitution states: “Citizens of the People's Republic of China have the right to criticize and make suggestions to any state agencies and government workers.” What Ms. Wei did would be understood as ordinary, lawful actions in democratic countries in Europe and America. Why are the same actions considered crimes in China, while the Chinese government claims it is ruling society in a democratic way?


 In conclusion, Ms. Wei's lawyer stated, “We see hope for China from Falun Gong practitioners. We cannot stand by as justice, morality, and conscience are trampled. We cannot just look at good people being wronged and brutally persecuted and do nothing, as it is our responsibility to help them. We should not be numb, weak, and cold-blooded and ignore our responsibility toward them. If innocent, good people are sent to trial and prison, then our country's judicial system will lose its honor, and our county will not have long-term stability.

Some years later, our future generations would have difficulty comprehending this absurd historical period. Thus, the characteristics of selfishness, craziness, and the seeking of instant benefit during our era will be highlighted. Besides underestimating the intellectual abilities of our prosecutors, judges, and officials of all levels and sectors, our conscience, responsibility, and courage are also being humiliated.”

FDIC: Update: Taiwanese Businessman Returns Home after China Abduction

NEW YORK--A Taiwanese businessman who practices Falun Gong and was abducted by Chinese security forces in June returned home safely this week after over 50 days in detention. Mr. Chung Ting-Pang's release was an encouraging victory for human rights advocates. His family along with Taiwanese media, legislators, and citizens had rallied for weeks calling for his return. Amnesty International had issued an urgent action on his behalf.

 

 

Chung told a press conference in Taipei on August 13 that he was put under extreme psychological pressure. He renounced a statement he was forced to sign in custody and asserted that equipment he had provided Chinese Falun Gong practitioners from 2003 to 2006 was to help them broadcast uncensored information to fellow citizens. “The so-called repentance and confession statements … that I’ve written or said in China were not done out of my own free will,” he said. "[In sending the equipment,] I had done something in order to let the people in China not misunderstand and hate Falungong... People in the mainland have the right to know the truth."  He also thanked the Taiwanese people and government for securing his release “I do feel grateful for the government," he reportedly told journalists. "I do hope, however, that there can be some mechanism that really protects Taiwanese people's rights.”

State-run Chinese media also reported Chung's release, but tried to justify his detention by asserting he had been treated according to law. "It's a preposterous claim," says Falun Gong spokesman Erping Zhang. "The whole procedure was illegal from the start - a man was abducted from the airport, held practically incommunicado for almost two months, and denied legal representation. How can that be legal? The Communist Party is trying to backpedal and save face before the international community. They didn't expect such a strong reaction, especially from Taiwan." For additional details on Chung's abduction and release see:


* Falun Dafa Information Center, "Taiwanese Falun Gong Practitioner Abducted in China"
* The Epoch Times, "Chinese regime repatriates arrested Taiwanese amid propaganda claims"
* Agence France Presses, "Taiwanese man says 'forced to show remorse' in China"
* China Post, "Released Falun Gong practitioner 'will never ever go back to mainland China"* The Epoch Times, "Taiwanese man detained in China"

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTERContacts: Gail Rachlin (+1 917-757-9780), Levi Browde (+1 845-418-4870), Erping Zhang (+1 646-533-6147), or Joel Chipkar (+1 416-731-6000)Fax: 646-792-3916 Email: contact@faluninfo.net, Website: http://www.faluninfo.net/