Script:

Falun Gong is freely practiced in more than 50 countries around the world, but relentlessly persecuted in China. The peaceful courage of practitioners there has shocked their oppressors and moved the people of the world. While China continues to block all information, FGMTV brings you the stories you may not hear anywhere else.

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Hello, and welcome to FGMTV on April 9th, 2002

I'm Susan Mitchell.

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In this week's update from China...

• The number of Falun Dafa practitioners verified to have died while in detention is 396. However, reliable sources inside China put the actual death count at more than 1,700.

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Some of our stories this week:

• Video coverage of news conference in Ireland with Falun Gong post graduate student, Zhao Ming, after his release from Tuanhe Labor Camp

• a Human Rights Parallel Forum is held in Geneva during the UNHRC annual meeting

• the European Union is on track to condemn rights abuses in China

• A major state-run newspaper in Guanzhou prints 2 poems by the founder of Falun Gong

• Violent car crashes kill several Chinese officials who persecuted Falun Dafa practitioners

Four-year-old cousins in Geneva help each other with the Falun Gong exercises!

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Video coverage of the press conference with Falun Gong post graduate student, Zhao Ming, after his release from Tuanhe Labor Camp in Beijing has now been made available. Here are some highlights.

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Moving now to Europe, where a Human Rights Parallel Forum calls for reform of the United Nations Human Rights Commission (the UNHRC)

• PRNewswire reported last week that a day-long Human Rights Parallel Forum was held to call for reforms that address the structure and regulations of the UNHRC.

• Increasingly, there is the concern that those governments, who are the worst violators of human rights, easily obtain a seat before the UNHRC.

• They use their influence to silence those they oppress.

• Erping Zhang, President of the Falun Gong International Committee for Human Rights, spoke as a panelist at the forum.

• Sylvia Iriondo, President of Mothers & Women Against Repression, and one of the conference organizers, said it provided "a unique opportunity for the media, government representatives and Non Governmental Organizations to obtain current information that is regrettably withheld during the session of the UNHRC.

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and... the European Union is on track to condemn rights abuses in China

• The South China Morning Post reported last Saturday that the European Parliament is set to approve a resolution condemning China for its human rights record and demanding an end to oppression of minorities.

• EU elected representatives are due to vote next Wednesday on a report that was drawn on behalf of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs.

• While the report welcomes Beijing's support for the international fight against terrorism, it emphasizes that this cannot justify human rights abuses and a disregard of the rule of law.

• It calls upon China to implement without delay the UN conventions that it has ratified.

• A draft of the resolution due for adoption says Parliament is still extremely concerned with the overall rights situation in China.

It "notes with disquiet the increasingly high number of executions," and it condemns the widespread use of torture against Falun Gong practitioners among others.

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In the wake of the broadcasting of Falun Dafa programs on Changchun cable television exposing the lies of the Jiang Zemin regime's propaganda, reports have been received that 5,000 practitioners have been kidnapped, tortured and at least 100 have been murdered.

• Falun Gong practitioners around the world continue their hunger strikes and appeals outside Chinese embassies and consulates to protest the kidnappings and killings in Changchun city in north-eastern China.

This week, we have received photographs from Budapest, Warsaw, London, Moscow, Los Angeles and Sydney.

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and over to WASHINGTON, D.C. where a groundbreaking case has been filed with the U.S. District Court

• 51 United States citizens, residents, and one non-profit organization filed a civil lawsuit on April 3rd against the People's Republic of China Ministry of State Security and Ministry of Public Security, China Central Television (CCTV), individuals in the Ministries' employ, P.R.C. Embassy and Consulate officials in the United States, various John Doe thugs, and state-owned and private sector business entities.

• They are charged with a criminal campaign on American soil to intimidate, injure, and suppress practitioners and supporters of Falun Gong.

• This is a groundbreaking case, because there is no legal precedent for a situation where a foreign government has engaged in activities in violation of U.S. laws on a large scale.

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The Commissioners of Dauphin County of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Issue a Proclamation Recognizing Master Li Hongzhi

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On behalf of the 250,000 residents of Harrisburg, the proclamation commends Falun Gong founder, Master Li Hongzhi, for his commitment to the principles of truth, compassion and forbearance which are working toward the improvement of society, and for his raising the level of discourse in the United States about human rights violations that currently exist in China.

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A member of the Australian Legislative Assembly accuses the Foreign Minister of setting a dangerous precedent...

• In an interview with Greens MLA Kerrie Tucker, the Canberra Times reported her saying that the order preventing protesters outside the Chinese Embassy from exhibiting any banners or making noise in support of the Falun Gong movement set a dangerous precedent and needed to be explained to Australian people.

• Ms Tucker was speaking after attending a protest at which police confiscated from her a banner emblazoned with the Falun Gong motto of "truthfulness, forbearance and compassion", while allowing another banner, from Amnesty International, to remain standing.

• "This is an extraordinary situation and [Foreign Minister] Alexander Downer needs to explain himself to the Australian community. Why is he prepared to deny citizens the right to protest on this matter?"

• Under diplomatic privileges and immunities regulations calling for the removal of banners and "implements used to make amplified noise" at protests conducted by the Falun Gong movement, Mr Downer imposed a 30-day order on March 16, shortly before the arrival of Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan,

• Mr Downer's office said the order was made to protect the security and dignity of staff at the embassy, who had been unsettled by the nine-month long protest.

• But Ms Tucker said there had been much rowdier, confrontational, and no doubt unsettling protests outside the South African, Indonesian and French Embassies in the past, and they had not attracted a similar ban.

"Why is it this embassy is so different from every other embassy in Canberra where we have the right to protest about any issue of concern? It's a very serious precedent that has been set here and Mr Downer needs to be accountable for it."

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and in the city of Bendigo near Melbourne...

while Canada and northern Europe are just beginning to emerge from winter snow and rain, in Australia, it's time for summer parades.

Practitioners were out enjoying the sun on their lotus float for the annual grand festival parade in the gold mining city of Bendigo.

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Falun Gong Banners fly in China...

At considerable risk to their lives, Falun Dafa practitioners recently managed to successfully hang several large banners in public places in a city in north-east China.

They read "Falun Dafa is Good!"

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And, using the same text, banners were also hung from tall apartment buildings near a university and also in the Tongzhou District of Beijing.

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Two Violent car crashes kill Chinese authorities:

The director of the Jianerji factory in Gansu Province not only often attacked Falun Dafa, but also refused to pay five practitioners' salaries for a long time.

• In October 2001, on his way to attend a conference in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, he borrowed a luxury car owned by his factory to take his wife and son (a university student) on a sightseeing trip.

• On his way back, the car veered off the road and over a cliff, killing all four passengers. His wife had returned home early and was not involved in the accident.

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In Dingxin City of Hebei Province, high school principal Tian Huaquan illegally forced all staff and students to defame Falun Gong by signing slanderous material.

• In addition, he threatened them by saying, that "Staff who refuse to sign will be laid off. Students wanting to attend university who refuse to sign won't be allowed to take university admission tests, and all other students who refuse to sign will be kicked out of high school."

• In 2001, Tian Huaquan burned to death when his car collided with another and burst into flames.

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Statistics from the recent sand storm in Beijing...

According to the March 22nd report from Xinhua News Agency, the sand storm in Beijing that lasted from March 20th to the 22nd dumped around about 30,000 tons of sand and dust on the city. That works out to an average of 3 kilograms or about 7 pounds) of dirt per person.

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A major state-run newspaper in Guangzhou prints poems by Falun Gong founder

• Reuters news service reporting from Beijing said that an editor of a major state-run newspaper confirmed that two poems written by Falun Gong's exiled spiritual leader Li Hongzhi were printed on an economic page in the March 30 edition of South China's Guangzhou Daily.

• The editor said that a Falun Gong adherent presented the two poems as part of an article submitted to the page. He said, "The editor in charge mistook the poems, which were very ambiguous in meaning, for a description of the general economic situation. They passed through all the editorial checks and got published."

• Other officials at the newspaper were not available for comment, but the editor said there was speculation that harsh disciplinary action would be taken against editorial staff found responsible for printing the poems.

and finally...

• When you're only four years old, it's nice to have a (slightly) older cousin who can teach you how to do things!

• Especially when you're in Geneva and everyone is so busy.

• And... I guess we're doing o.k. because someone else wants to learn from us!!

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Thanks for watching FGMTV, dedicated to breaking through China's information blockade, revealing propaganda, and bringing you the truth of Falun Gong.