9/30/2003

Students will gather signatures Thursday in Zimmer Hall for a petition to show opposition to the Chinese persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

Falun Gong is an ancient spiritual movement involving exercise and meditation that China banned in 1999. [...]

One UC student is personally affected by the [persecution]. The student's brother, who practices Falun Gong, was recently jailed in China and could receive three-to-seven years in prison [...].

The student whose brother is in jail asked not to be named because he is still a Chinese citizen and could face punishment himself when returning to his country.

As many as 100 million Chinese citizens practice Falun Gong, and tens of thousands have been jailed since 1999 [...], according to its practitioners.

The petition drive organizers will gather signatures from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. Thursday in front of Zimmer auditorium.

http://www.nr.uc.edu/read.asp?ID=13624