Editor's note:
This weekly bulletin is written by an independent media agency that supports Falun Gong and may not always represent Falun Gong's viewpoints. It summarizes news about the persecution of Falun Gong and is sent to worldwide media every week.



CHINA SENDS CHILLING MESSAGE TO INTERNET USERS AND INVESTORS

CHINA CRISIS NEWS BULLETIN #45áááá
(6/8/2000)

Monitoring News of the Persecution of Falun Gong
US FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER - Contacts: Gail Rachlin 212-501-8080, Erping Zhang 917-679-6944, Feng Yuan 917-734-6913, or Levi Browde 914-720-0963. Email: usinfo@falundafa.org
  • CHINA CLAMPS DOWN ON BOOMING INTERNET POPULATION
  • NEW CHINA POLICE TACTICS IN ONGOING REPRESSION OF FALUN GONG
  • THE SWORD VS. THE PEN: WRITE ABOUT FALUN GONG, GO ON TRIAL
  • NEWS SMUGGLED OUT OF PRISON: TORTURE GOES ON UNABATED

CHINA SENDS MESSAGE TO COUNTRY'S INTERNET USERS

(Australian Broadcast Corporation News) 6/8/2000 Authorities in China have sent a chilling message to the country's booming internet user population. China correspondent Tom O'Byrne reports a website operator arrested for anti-government activities is facing the prospect of a long jail term. A webmaster living in Chengdu has reportedly been taken away for questioning over content on a website based not in China but the United States. It originally served to link lost families and relatives, but recently began running anti-government material on the 1989 student massacre, communist party corruption, and the outlawed spiritual group Falun Gong. A human rights group based in Hong Kong says it's the first time a website creator has been arrested, a move it says will send a chill through investors about the Chinese government's embrace of the internet. The arrest coincides with new official statistics, that ten million Chinese are now registered internet users.

CHINA POLICE TO USE NEW TACTIC IN ROUND UP OF FALUN GONG

Newsweek International, June 12, 2000 Since last summer, devotees of the banned Falun Gong spiritual practice have come from all over China to stage silent protests in Beijing. Now Beijing is asking provincial police to come to the capital and round up their own locals.... Last week Beijing unveiled black high-tech armored uniforms, imported from France at up to $2,700 apiece. The futuristic "Robocop" riot gear provides "head-to-toe protection," according to the state-run Beijing Evening News. They resist water, flame, "even Molotov cocktails." Note: Falun Gong remains committed to non-violence.

DISSIDENT TRIED: ONE CHARGE IS WRITING ABOUT FALUN GONG

BEIJING (AP) 5/31/2000 A Chinese writer and advocate of democratic change was prosecuted for subversion at a trial that his family was not allowed to attend, his wife said Wednesday Qi [Yanchen]'s trial Tuesday in northern Hebei province ended after 4 hours without a verdict, said his wife, Mi Hongwu. Qi was charged with subverting state power for a series of articles written for Kaifang, a Hong Kong monthly on Chinese politics, and VIP Reference, a U.S.-based dissident magazine circulated by e-mail, his wife said. Qi used the pen name Ji Li. VIP Reference said China's security agents somehow traced Qi through the pen name. The articles touched upon some of the most sensitive topics in Chinese politics including Beijing's suppression of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

AMNESTY SLAMS CHINA (AGAIN!) ON 1989 TIANANMEN ANNIVERSARY

While Falun Gong takes no position in the debate over the 1989 Tiananmen Square events, the ongoing human rights concerns are important to note. BEIJING, Jun 1, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Amnesty International has issued a withering condemnation of human rights in China to mark the 11th anniversary of the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests, and called for around 200 people still detained over the demonstrations to be released. The London-based rights group said Beijing had failed to address any of the issues surrounding the massacre of hundreds, possibly thousands, of people by the Chinese military on the night of June 3-4, 1989. The group said 213 people were still in detention or on medical parole for their role in the protests after unfair and summary trials, and demanded their immediate release. It also called for a full public inquiry into the massacre and an end to the harassment of a group of victims and families of victims which has been campaigning for an inquiry and compensation.

FALUN DAFA WEB SITES OFFER INSIDER REPORTS FROM CHINA JAILS, RESISTANCE

[Northeastern China] Practitioner Ms. Yin Shu-yun from Chang-chun City Died in Hei-zui-zi Labor Camp On May 28, practitioner Ms. Yin Shu-yun, 46 years old, died in the Hei-zhui-zi Labor Camp. She was cremated on June 1st in Chang-chun City. According to the police from Chang-chun, she died of "cerebral hemorrhage". Chang-chun police also disclosed that when Ms. Yin was escorted back from Beijing, half of her face had turned black from beatings.

Shi-jia-zhuang: Over 80 practitioners are currently being detained in the women labor camp of Shi-jia-zhuang. They were given forced-labor because they had gone to appeal in Beijing, circulating Falun Dafa materials, practicing Falun Gong on Tiananmen Square, etc. The oldest practitioner is over 70 and is given forced-labor, which has totally violated the rules on forced-labor; namely, forced-labor is for youth with working ability. Since March, these detained practitioners have talked to the officials in the labor camp for many times that "Appealing is a right conferred to each citizen by the constitution. Our appealing is peaceful without any anti-government purposes. It is wrong to give us forced-labor. We are not criminals. We request immediate release. We are practitioners of Falun Dafa. We seriously make the following announcements: We will not wear a uniform for criminals. We will not do forced labor, and we request that we be allowed to practice Falun Gong and read the books of Falun Dafa." The labor camp then physically abused 20 practitioners.

[Harbin] From May 29th to June 28th, a picture show entitled "Promoting Science, eradicating Superstition" is being held in the Harbin Museum. The major purpose of the show is to slander Falun Dafa. Since the show was kicked off, numerous Falun Dafa practitioners have been visiting there and introduced the truth of Falun Dafa to working staff members and the visiting audiences. The show meant to slander Falun Dafa was turned into one to promote Falun Dafa.

For more information, visit http://www.falundafa.org

US FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER - Contacts: Gail Rachlin 212-501-8080, Erping Zhang 917-679-6944, Feng Yuan 917-734-6913, or Levi Browde 914-720-0963. Email: usinfo@falundafa.org

Category: Accounts of Persecution