If there had been an "anti-cult law" in China [prior to 1999] and Jiang Zemin had been able to bring charges against Falun Gong based on this law, then his actions might at least still appear legal on the surface. However, there has never been any such law in China. If, in order to make his intention of persecuting Falun Gong legitimate, he had been able to manipulate the People's Congress of China to pass an "anti-cult law" and to decree that Falun Gong is a "cult," then his evil conduct might still be counted as legal. However, Jiang Zemin does not even have such a cover to hide behind. The "anti-cult law" drafted by the People's Congress of China listed only the characteristics of a cult, but did not indicate who specifically is a cult. It had described a cult as something like "worshipping a religious leader; mental control; fabricating fallacies; accumulating wealth; secret assembly; harming the society", etc. As the Secretary General of such a major administration (XX Party), Jiang Zemin certainly knows who would match these criteria the best. After one year's crackdown against Falun Gong, Jiang Zemin has not been able to find any legal basis by which he can "convict" Falun Gong as a whole. He has therefore taken his actions beyond the law. First, he dropped all pretense and declared that "Falun Gong is a cult" in France. Then, he forced the propaganda machine in China to begin fabricating rumors. He then forced the People's Congress of China to pass the "anti-cult law" to clear the way for the crackdown using the machinery of a dictatorship. Though the People's Congress didn't follow his wish of indicating who was cult, at that point, Jiang Zemin could not wait any longer and ignored the consequences. He began to order the crackdown, as if he had any legal cause to do so. Jiang Zemin's persecution of Falun Gong is also illegal in various aspects of its implementation. Among his claims of "1,400 deaths" or "several thousand suicides", none have been verified by the law or by any legal medical expert. The "evidence" offered to support these claims do not have and legal validity. "Practicing exercises" and "death" are both phenomena that exist in daily life. One does not necessarily lead to another. There are many things that happen as part of life and death, and they cannot all be arbitrarily treated as crimes. Jiang Zemin knew that he was in the wrong on this point. Therefore, he simply forbade all law offices in the country from handling any Falun Gong cases. With regard to the charge of "selling illegal publications", it referred to the spreading of the Falun Dafa book (Zhuan Falun). The book, written by Mr. Li Hongzhi, describes universal principles, and expresses profound compassion toward all of mankind. Labeling this book an "illegal publication" was a decision made by the Central Propaganda Ministry of XX Party, led by Jiang Zemin. This act was in violation of the law [the Chinese Constitution], and Jiang should be punished for subverting the Party and placing himself above the law by issuing arbitrary decisions. How can something that opposes this illegal activity be treated as illegal? It is not difficult to see Jiang Zemin's view of the law: Something to be trodden on and disregarded. The same faulty method was used to accuse Falun Gong practitioners with the charge of "leaking state secrets". In order to carry out their intention of eliminating Falun Gong, a few people violated the law, tampered with state organizations, and deployed their scheme, calling it a "state secret". Falun Gong practitioners had realized that the so-called "state secrets" were a hidden plan adopted by those few evildoers and state officials to deceive people and to push one hundred million people to the opposite side of government. This was done for the purpose of undermining the people's practice and capitalizing on political gains. In order to prevent the damage to the practice environment of one hundred million people, some practitioners bravely stepped forward and exposed these evil deeds to defend the people's freedom of beliefs and right to lead a healthy life. This is obviously the righteous conduct of upright citizens who voluntarily fight against criminal activities. It could only bring benefit to the country and the people. How can this kind of unselfish conduct (preventing illegal utilization of state organizations) become "leaking state secrets" when it came out of Jiang Zemin's mouth? How can this scheme of forming a clique to pursue selfish interests and doing harm to society be treated as an official "state secret?" None of the Jiang Zemin's accusations against Falun Gong is based on fact, so they are all, in fact, violating the law. Due to the limited length of this article, it is not possible to list all of them here. However, the brutality of the persecution can still be seen from the following accounts: Since the beginning of last July, under Jiang Zemin's personal direction and effort, his accomplice launched a comprehensive nationwide campaign to persecute Falun Gong. Following the initial slandering and attacks were new rumors fabricated by usurping the powerful state apparatus. A great number of kind Falun Gong practitioners had realized that the leaders of the country were deceived. So with trust, they came to Beijing to appeal and tell the truth to the government. However, Jiang Zemin issued orders that led to violent beatings, detention, and reckless persecution of these innocent citizens. According to incomplete statistics, over the past year, 50,000 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested and detained; more than 10,000 were sent to labor camps without going through any legal procedure; about 600 were sent to mental hospitals and were treated with forced injections and electric shocks which damaged their central nervous and cardiac systems; 500 people were sentenced with jail terms of up to 18 years; 53 practitioners, including Zhao Jinhua and Chen Zixiu died as a result of severe torture; and more than one million Falun Gong books, video tapes, and audio tapes were confiscated and burned. Moreover, countless Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured and physically abused. Millions of family members, relatives, and friends of Falun Gong practitioners have also been victimized. During the this period of time, more than forty kinds of torture were used on Falun Gong practitioners, such as: sticking bamboo sticks beneath the finger nails, suffocation with smoke, burning with fire, forced feeding with chili pepper, sitting on a "tiger bench"(a kind of torture intended to break a person's legs); forced sitting in a "airplane" stance (a very uncomfortable posture with the body bent and arms raised over the head in the back), forcing pregnant women to undergo abortion, beating after stripped naked; inhaling human excrement, dousing the body with ice water in the winter, freezing in the snow for a long period of time, slapping the face and punching eyes (which caused loss of hearing and eyesight); breaking bones in the arms, breaking the nose, breaking the teeth, beating to the point of covering the body with blood ; breaking bones in the spine; beating using wooden sticks, electric batons, "wolf-tooth stick" (a thick stick covered with nails), beating with a whip and belt; punching the chest and kicking the lower body; having an electric current sent through electrodes attached to the top of the head and the anus; handcuffing two hands diagonally behind one's back; handcuffing hands and feet together, handcuffing two or more people together; stretching the body with both arms and legs spread out, and not allowing eating, drinking or use of the restroom; applying the torture methods only used for death penalties; inducing a snake and scorpion to bite practitioners; using thugs, prostitutes, and criminals to beat practitioners; hanging practitioners to beat them, beating until unconscious; forcing tens of thousands of practitioners to go on hunger strike; forced feeding with a salt slush mixture that caused death due to suffocation; and sending healthy people to mental hospitals where they were forcibly injected with drugs that damage their central nervous systems. More than 50 people including, Zhao Jinhua and Chen Zixiu, died after being tortured by the police. Even practitioners' family members, who knew the facts or showed sympathy towards practitioners were also arrested and sent to labor camps. The crimes that have been committed are too numerous to record. Their inhuman acts make a person's hair stand on end. The above factual accounts happened during the "best era of human rights" of Jiang Zemin's "ruling country with law". However, after he failed to eliminate Falun Gong as of October 1st (Chinese National Day) of last year, Jiang Zemin further intensified his efforts and initiated another round of "eliminating Falun Gong before October 1st [2000]", instead of re-examining his conscience and realizing that his destructive initiatives are bound to fail. The implementation of the initiatives by Li Fengqing, Jian's main accomplice, of "destroying the reputation of Falun Gong practitioners, bankrupting practitioners financially, and eradicating Falun Gong in three months," is the indication of the beginning of another large-scale persecution. It targets not only all Falun Gong practitioners in Mainland China, it also challenges the basic human rights of every person in the world. Good will be rewarded with good, and evil with evil. For Jiang Zemin, it is not that he does not understand this principle; it is because he has already gone too far on this dead-end path. He is only hoping to win by chance, with a desperate final blow. He has no confidence at all but can do nothing other than sustain his efforts by being more vicious and feigning strength. However, he may not know that the further he goes on his evil path, the more will be the payback. He is already covered by bloody debts, how can he think that is still not enough? He should be able to reason it out. The persecutor is bound to be convicted and punished. Sustaining the persecution will do nothing more than accumulate more sin. How far can Jiang Zemin go defy the rules of history? Heaven is watching and waiting. September 24, 2000

Category: Journeys of Cultivation