September 19, 2008: Falun Gong News Bulletin

Highlights:

• FDI: Olympic Clean-up Costs Another Life
• Reuters/Los Angeles Times: Falun Gong Reports Torture
• New Statesman: Falun Gong featured in Faith Column series by Leeshai Lemish

Other news on Falun Gong:

• New York Daily News: The Chinese government is terrorizing my parents for practicing Falun Gong
• Irish Times: UCC student fears for arrested parents
• Columbus Dispatch: OSU student felt China’s persecution first-hand
• Silicon Valley Insider: Another Olympics Gold Medalist: Falun Gong

FDI: Olympic Clean-up Costs Another Life

A painter from Hunan province, arrested in a nationwide pre-Olympic roundup of Falun Gong adherents, died the day before the opening ceremonies from injuries incurred in custody. Detained in March, an emaciated Mr. Hu Heping (???) from Yueyang city died August 7, 2008 according to recent reports received by The Falun Dafa Information Center. He was 55 years old.

To read more: /article/805/?cid=84

Reuters/Los Angeles Times: Falun Gong Reports Torture

Two members of banned Chinese spiritual sect Falun Gong were tortured and died in police custody in Shandong province in July, the group said. Zhong Zhenfu, 58, died of injuries sustained in police custody after being held along with others from Pingdu, in Shandong, since May, the group said in a statement. Liu Xiumei, a woman from Zhucheng, Shandong, was detained in July and died 17 days later, it said, without giving further details.

Officials from Shandong province were not immediately available for comment.

To read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-briefs24-2008aug24,0,6642255.story

The article is based on the following release by FDI: “Two More Falun Gong Killed by Olympic Cleanup”: /article/799/?cid=84

New Statesman: Falun Gong featured in Faith Column series by Leeshai Lemish

• Being a Falun Gong Practitioner: “A mundane incident brought me … to Falun Dafa. One evening I was arguing heatedly with my father. I suggested we take a break. Sitting on the floor, I tried coaching myself into a better state of mind: ‘Ok, what should I do? Well, this Falun Dafa book here says we should act with truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. I might be acting truthfully, but I’m not being very tolerant or compassionate. I’ll try keeping these principles in mind’. I returned to the kitchen and within a minute we were hugging. Soon after, I went online and found the local Falun Dafa volunteer.”  To read more: http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-faith-column/2008/08/falun-gong-dafa-rights-believe

• Why is Falun Gong Banned: “’If Falun Gong is benign, why is the Chinese government afraid of it?’ After nine years of persecution this basic question remains common. I’ll try answering it here.” To read more: http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-faith-column/2008/08/falun-gong-party-chinese

• China’s Other World: “It was 2:00 am and we were sitting on the floor of a Bangkok slum. We had a flight to catch the next morning, but after interviewing Falun Gong refugees for a week we still couldn’t pull away from what they were telling us. ‘At first I thought it was just me. But then, one after another, more Falun Gong practitioners were brought into our cell’, Chen Jie said. ‘Their bellies, chest and backs were also covered with black bubbles from being shocked with cattle-prods.’ To read more: http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-faith-column/2008/08/falun-gong-practitioners-china

• Defying the Odds: “If this persecution is so severe, why is it so rarely in the news and why isn’t more being done about it? Last month, I sat down with a journalist in a Taipei pub. ‘The media have a blackout on Falun Gong’, he said. ‘You mean Chinese or Western media’? I asked. ‘Both’.” To read more: http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-faith-column/2008/08/falun-gong-practitioners-china-2

Leeshai Lemish has researched and written about Falun Gong since 2001. He has spent the past year traveling around the world to interview its practitioners, including labor camp survivors, for a forthcoming book.

New York Daily News: The Chinese government is terrorizing my parents for practicing Falun Gong

On July 17, I phoned my parents to say hello. There was no answer. I kept trying; still, no answer. Finally, I called my brother and he told me the news: They had been detained after 20 policemen broke into their home and found materials related to Falun Gong… In 2001, they were each sentenced to a labor camp for three years. They had no trial, no lawyer and no opportunity to defend themselves. Their freedom was taken away. Intensive sleep deprivation, beatings, hard labor and brainwashing classes became their daily reality.

To read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/08/24/2008-08-24_the_chinese_government_is_terrorizing_my-3.html

Irish Times: UCC student fears for arrested parents

A 21-YEAR-OLD Chinese student living in Ireland has spoken of his concern for his parents after they were arrested by police in China. “They took both of them to the police station and they held my mother there, and then took my father to my home. I was there at the time and they searched everywhere and busted things up and took everything about Falun Gong – DVDs, books. I haven’t seen my parents since.”

To read more: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0827/1219680032112.html

Columbus Dispatch: OSU student felt China’s persecution first-hand

As a Falun Gong practitioner in China, William Huang …served five years in a detention center, where he says he was beaten and forced to labor alongside other prisoners for at least 16 hours a day. Huang, 33, now speaks openly about his persecution. It’s a freedom he has embraced since leaving China on a six-year visa this past spring to study at Ohio State University. A Ph.D. scholarship in mechanical engineering brought him to Columbus.

To read more: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/08/24/osuchina.ART_ART_08-24-08_B4_SNB4D4S.html?sid=101

Silicon Valley Insider: Another Olympics Gold Medalist: Falun Gong

China appears to have done a thorough job of suppressing overt protests…but it appears Falun Gong has managed to use the newfound focus on China to their advantage.

The group had 13 videos among the top 100 most-viewed during the first week of the Beijing Olympics, netting 3.5 million views. And it had four videos among the top 100 the following week, netting 1 million views. That’s according to TubeMogul, which tracks video views across 20 sites, including YouTube, Revver, Dailymotion and Metacafe.

To read more: http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/8/another-olympics-gold-medalist-banned-chinese-sect-falun-gong