FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 6/1/2002 [ http://www.faluninfo.net/
]
NEW YORK, June 1, 2002 (Falun Dafa Information Center) - Chinese leader Jiang Zemin and "6-10" Office1 head Luo Gan are planning to create a series of "horrifying incidents," including explosions in government offices, prisons and forced-labor camps in areas around Beijing to frame Falun Gong, according to reliable sources in China who have accurately revealed similar plots over the past two years. The plans include the "sacrifice" of some government officials and police staff with the intent of using the incidents to incite the public's hatred toward Falun Gong, especially among government and police officials. These same sources confirm that the persecutors plan to use the incidents as an excuse to kill Falun Gong practitioners.
Such horrific warnings would ordinarily seem far-fetched. These sources, however, have provided equally shocking forewarnings on numerous occasions in the past. Each time, these warnings were followed by criminal incidents that state-run media blamed on Falun Gong.
Third party investigation has never been able to corroborate the so-called "evidence" against Falun Gong practitioners presented in these reports, yet they have been used to manipulate public opinion in China against Falun Gong and its principle of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance.
"This form of defamation and slander is extremely vicious and serves as one
of the cornerstones of Jiang's campaign against Falun Gong," says Falun Dafa Information Center
spokesperson Adam Montanaro. "The tactic employed here is to overwhelm people [through the
media] with so many horrific accusations that people either begin to believe they are true or assume
that the accused must have done something wrong to deserve the onslaught...the truth is Jiang is
just trying to serve his own personal agenda of mobilizing the country behind himself and
strengthening his power base, and will stop at nothing to do this," Mr. Montanaro said.
"Including plotting such horrific acts to demonizing a peaceful spiritual practice."
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(1) The "6-10" Office is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun
Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Chinese Communist Party and all
other political and judiciary systems. For more information on the "610" Office, please
visit: http://www.faluninfo.net/devstories/610/index.asp
.
"6-10" Office Plants Seeds for Using Child Murder Story Against Falun Gong
In April, multiple sources in Changchun reported that local "6-10" Office officials were spreading rumors among the schools of the city that Falun Gong practitioners were planning on murdering children. Sources say this was an attempt to set the stage for pinning related crimes on Falun Gong. The Falun Dafa Information Center (Chinese) issued a news release based on this information on April 9.
On May 13, state-run media widely reported a story of a woman who killed her daughter in front of 40 other people, all of which the state-run media claimed were Falun Gong practitioners. Associated Press, however, issued a report later that day noting that "State media have issued numerous similar reports, none of which have been independently confirmed." Additionally, the killing reportedly happened on April 22, but was not reported by the state-run media until May 13 - the day celebrated around the world as World Falun Dafa Day. "There was no indication why the government waited three weeks to report [the] death," the AP report said.
Thousands Arrested, Dozens Dead Revealed by Sources Early On
Following a March 5, evening broadcast of programs supportive of Falun Gong in northeastern China, sources in China indicated that an unprecedented sweep through the city of Changchun was underway. On March 26, the Falun Dafa Information Center issued a news release stating that sources revealed over 5,000 people believed to be practitioners of Falun Gong had been detained in the vast and unprecedented police sweep through Changchun. Sources also reported that dozens or more might be dead already as a result of police brutality.
Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action in the weeks that followed the broadcast, but because of the tight control over information about the rampage, it would be another seven weeks before an independent party could verify the arrest of at least 2,000. On April 25, Associated Press reported on the independent party verification:
|
BEIJING - Under intense pressure from Beijing, authorities have detained 2,000 followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual practice in a northern Chinese city after a defiant television broadcast by the group, a rights organization said Thursday. More than 150 followers in Changchun have been sent to "re-education through labor" camps, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said. Changchun's women's labor camp alone has admitted 80 Falun Gong followers over the last six weeks, the Hong Kong-based center said. |
"Suicide" Plot to Frame Falun Gong Revealed
On December 16, 2001 the Falun Dafa Information Center issued a news release stating a reliable source inside China had revealed that Chinese officials will begin a propaganda initiative starting Monday, Dec. 17, that frames up Falun Gong by way of a suicide case.
"We received this information late last night," said Falun Dafa Information Center spokesperson Dr. Shiyu Zhou at the time of the news release. "Chinese officials have used this tactic many times before - they take cases of suicide, murder, and other horrible acts, and use the state-run media to pin them on practitioners of Falun Gong so as to incite hatred towards Falun Gong among the Chinese people." Dr. Zhou added, "Of course, China's officials heavily guard any information about these cases, so it's both difficult and dangerous for us to get further details about this new initiative, but we can say this came from a reliable source and must be taken seriously. We need to follow this closely."
The next day, the top story on China's state-run CCTV reported on a man who allegedly killed his father and wife, and injured his own mother on Nov. 25 in Beijing. China's state-run media did not release the news, however, until 20 days later (December 17).
The reported labeled the man a Falun Gong practitioner, and included interviews with him in which he spoke in unfamiliar terms about Falun Gong. Dr. Zhou noted that the story was deceptive: "What [the murderer] said does not make any sense but could be very deceiving as he uses some strange terminologies that will cause people to believe he actually practices Falun Gong."
4 Days Before Anthrax Scare, Sources Reveal Jiang Will Capitalize on Terrorist Fears
On October 14, 2001, the Falun Dafa Information Center (Chinese) reported that Jiang Zemin had internally labeled Falun Gong a "terrorist organization," and ordered that "terrorist incidents" be created and attributed to Falun Gong. The creation of such incidents would undoubtedly further the regime's efforts to criminalize and demonize Falun Gong, breeding public hatred and fear.
On October 18, 2001, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), the Associated Press and other media issued reports, citing Chinese foreign ministry sources, that an alleged "Falun Gong book" suspected of anthrax bacteria contamination was received in the mail by an undisclosed American company in Beijing. No details were given about the package, including where it originated.
On the October 18, the Falun Dafa Information Center issued a news release in which spokesperson Adam Montanaro stated, "If the Chinese regime is using the anthrax scare to frame-up and attack Falun Gong, which it clearly looks like, then this is very disturbing. Would someone who sends a package like this include literature that identifies him?-that's absurd. But on the other hand, that's exactly how someone might choose to frame Falun Gong. It's highly suspicious." "The timing of this incident," Mr. Montanaro continued, "seems suspicious as well." The incident occurred as many of the world's leaders were visiting Shanghai during the APEC meetings.
Sources Forewarn of Labor Camp Show Tours
On April 26, 2001, the Falun Dafa Information Center reported that sources said the Masanjia Labor Camp in Liaoning Province was among a few facilities being readied to receive foreign and Chinese media to 'interview' selected Falun Gong Practitioners. Almost a month later reporters were invited to the Masanjia Labor Camp to witness freshly painted walls, prisoners decked out in new jump suits complete with their names written on the back in Chinese and English (it was not clear why prisoners needed their names written in English inside a Chinese labor camp), enjoying an apparently clean and healthy environment.
What the visiting media were shown on this tour lies in stark contrast to numerous first-hand reports from former prisoners at Masanjia who attest to violent beatings, horrific torture and numerous deaths that have occurred from persecution at the labor camp. Regarding this tour, Falun Dafa Information Center spokeswoman Gail Rachlin said, "This whole exercise smacks of Nazi show tours of a Czech Concentration camp in the 1930's which was turned into a movie set to mislead the world. We fear the same thing may be happening again."
What is the Full Story?
Last December while the number of deaths confirmed by the Falun Dafa Information Center topped 300, government sources inside China revealed that the actual number was well over 1,600. More recently, other sources in China say the number could be 4,000 or even far greater. The control of information in and out of Mainland China about human rights abuses remains strong, proving difficult and dangerous to circumnavigate. Thus, despite the access to reliable sources, evidence suggests that news agencies and human rights organizations have only barely scratched the surface of what's really happening in China.
The true extent of the tragedy remains largely unknown.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER- Contacts: Gail
Rachlin 917-501-4441, Erping Zhang 646-533-6147, Adam Montanaro 917-405-4507, or Feng Yuan
646-523-5676. Email: faluninfoctr@nycmail.com,
Website: http://www.faluninfo.net/