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Hello, and welcome to the FGMtv weekly news review on February 4, 2003.
I'm David Tompkins.
In this week's update from China...
- 564 Falun Gong practitioners are confirmed to have died from torture while in custody, with 5 death reports received in the last week. Reliable sources inside China, however, put the actual death count in the thousands.
- In the last 7 days, torture reports have come in from 15 provinces, including the cities of Beijing and Tianjin.
- 819 people declared as null and void, statements saying they will give up Falun Gong that were made while undergoing torture as they were the result of extreme coercion. They say they will continue practicing Falun Gong.
Our top story this week:
- Falun Dafa practitioners celebrate the start of The Year of the Ram with food, entertainment and a lot of fun!
And some of our other stories:
- Practitioners all over the world send greetings to the founder of Falun Gong, Master Li Hongzhi.
- A letter to a relative being tortured in China
- Falun Gong practitioner and California resident, Dr. Charles Li, is imprisoned by the Jiang regime while traveling in China
- Self-immolation propaganda of Jiang's regime is exposed on cable TV in northeast China
- Practitioners in Toronto hosted their annual Lunar New Year Dinner for Friends of Falun Gong and many others who have been supportive over the last three and a half years of persecution.
- Christine Loftus was there.
New Year Greetings from practitioners to their Teacher, Mr. Li Hongzhi
- Despite the cruel torture they are undergoing in Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp, Falun Gong practitioners there managed to send this beautiful New Year's greeting to their Teacher Li Hongzhi through Minghui Net.
- The words have been taken from The Plum Blossom, an ancient well-known Chinese poem commonly thought of as a prophecy.
- At the top: Spring fills the human world.
- On the right: The windstorm continues through the night, but there is no need to worry.
- On the left: With a courtyard of gorgeous flowers, the spring has her master
- and from Henan Province, practitioners sent an image of plum blossoms with the message, "Plum Blossoms indicate the coming of a new Spring."
- Outside of China, practitioners gathered to have photographs taken for their Teacher. From Melbourne, Australia...
Macau
Yilan,
and Penghu in Taiwan
from Hong Kong
and from colder, European climes: Belgium and Holland
Greetings were sent from Atlanta
Florida
A Letter to a relative being tortured in China:
Shenli Lin is a practitioner in Montreal who was rescued last year to Canada from a labour camp in China. People all over the world joined together to ask for his release. The Canadian government worked behind the scenes, and Amnesty International initiated a letter-writing campaign to secure his release. The campaign was successful, and today Shenli lives in Montreal with his wife. However, in coming to Canada he had to leave his brother behind, who was also in a labour camp. After many unsuccessful efforts at trying to communicate with him, Shenli made public a letter wishing his brother a Happy New Year. Here is an excerpt:
Hello, Mingli
Although we are ten thousand miles apart, my concern for your safety has not been forgotten at any moment. Every day, news from China about the brutal beatings and tortures that practitioners bear in forced labor camps always reminds me of you, and my mind hasn't calmed down for a long time.
I heard the news that you began a hunger strike in the labor camp to protest their secretly arresting you, and that they injured your esophagus during force-feeding, leaving you unable to drink and eat. How are you now? What have you been going through? The cases of practitioners dying during force-feeding have happened countrywide. I am very worried about you, since I was persecuted in the labor camp for two years and I cannot bear to recall the sufferings I went through.
I have written to you but never heard from you. The letters must be withheld by the police, just like before, when I was detained in the labor camp.
From the beginning of my cultivation and through my persecution in the labor camp, I have never wavered and never regretted. It's the honor of my lifetime for me to safeguard Dafa and to validate Dafa.
I am proud of you for what you have done in validating Dafa. I truly believe the principle that evil can never overpower righteousness, because the origins of all living beings are from "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." Kindness is the nature of living beings. Truth and Righteousness can never be defeated.
I hope we both do our best to validate Dafa and do what we should do to bring a good future to more beings.
Happy New Year!
Shenli
A letter from Shenli Lin in Canada to his brother still detained in a labor camp in China.
An American citizen, Dr. Charles Li, was arrested at Guangzhou Airport in China on January 22, 2003. Chinese authorities say they will charge Dr. Li with sabotaging T.V. and/or radio equipment, a charge which could result in up to 15 years in a Chinese prison.
When talking to a U.S. consulate official, Dr. Li denied the charges and expressed the belief that he is being held as a political prisoner simply because he practices Falun Gong.
The U.S. official was allowed only 30 minutes to meet with Dr. Li, and was told she would be allowed only one 30 minute meeting each month.
AFP reported in 1999 that, "The Chinese Government has ordered Chinese lawyers not to plead for Falun Gong practitioners."
"In the last 4 years, the Chinese Government has not followed its own laws when dealing with Falun Gong. Therefore we doubt that they will apply the law when dealing with Dr. Li," said Dr. Sherry Zhang, spokesperson for the newly formed organization, "Friends of Charles."
Falun Dafa Information Center spokesman, Erping Zhang made this statement, "An innocent American has been illegally arrested and threatened with false charges that could lead to 15 years in prison, simply because he practices Falun Gong, This is outrageous... Charles must be released immediately. We urge the U.S. government and the American people to help rescue Charles from China."
New Jersey Congressmen Lobby Secretary of State Colin Powell on Behalf of Falun Gong Practitioners
In a letter to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, ten U.S. representatives from the State of New Jersey asked that he do everything in his power to rescue family members of Falun Gong practitioners.
Their letter dated January 22, 2003 states: "We, the undersigned members of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation, respectfully request that all practical means be used in calling for the immediate release of all the imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners, who have relatives in the United States." The congressmen asked the State Department to review the list of those imprisoned and to pass it to Chinese authorities with an appeal for their immediate release.
From Shenyang City in Liaoning Province, Dafa practitioners sent this New Years greeting card to Mr. Li Hongzhi. The image shows ten thousand practitioners meditating together before Jiang Zemin began his brutal crackdown in July, 1999.
Shenyang City is the site of Dabei Prison where more than a thousand practitioners are detained and subjected to brutal torture. Many practitioners have died in this prison.
Dafa Practitioners in Northeast China Broadcast A Program Exposing the Deception of the "Self-Immolation" Incident
Falun Gong practitioners have once again used the airwaves to expose the lies around the so-called "self-immolation incident" that took place in Tiananmen Square. On the second anniversary of the tragic event that caused the deaths of several people, Falun Gong practitioners in a city in northeast China broadcast a 30-minute program on cable TV showing how the event was staged by the Jiang regime to slander Falun Gong. The program was carried on all cable TV stations and reportedly caused a sensation among viewers. They have also advised that the city's Public Security Bureau is planning mass arrests of practitioners.
The program showed that the government's own video provides proof of a staged incident. Details reveal the truth. Frame by frame, it can be clearly seen that a woman died immediately after she was struck on the head by a blunt object from someone clearly visible on the footage.
A man supposedly "engulfed in flames," moved seemingly without pain. When the flames were put out, it could be seen that his hair, easily the most flammable body part, was untouched and his gasoline-filled plastic bottle remained in perfect condition between his legs as if placed as staged prop.
After conducting an independent investigation by visiting the home town of the woman who died, a Washington Post reporter disclosed that none of her neighbors ever saw her practice the Falun Gong exercises.
The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong has formed an investigative committee to examine the tragic human immolation event that happened in Tiananmen Square in January 2001.
The Committee, called the International Committee to Investigate the So-Called Self-Immolation Incident, will do a thorough investigative analysis of the incident which the Jiang regime reported throughout China, naming the victims as practitioners of Falun Gong.
The incident was a dramatic turning point that escalated hostility towards Falun Gong practitioners, and it was used to publicly justify the persecution of Falun Gong. However, the teachings of Falun Gong strictly forbid killing, and this includes suicide.
The Committee is undertaking this effort because the incident directly caused several tragic deaths, and because the judicial system in China has failed to do a through and objective investigation.
In its initial report, the Committee names individuals who directly or indirectly had a hand in the incident. Results of the investigation will be published on their website: www.upholdjustice.org.
Practitioners from Canada and the United States joined a Brazilian practitioner in introducing Falun Dafa and clarifying the truth at the World Education Forum from January 19-22, and the World Social Forum from January 23-28 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. More than 100,000 people attended the events from 5,700 organizations and from 156 countries. The theme of the Forum was "Another World is Possible", and it focused on how to build a more civil society. Practitioners brought a message of hope that by living according to the universal principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" another world is possible.
Here are some of the many beautiful New Year Greetings sent to Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, from practitioners in China:
From Dalian City, we have three different greetings:
Shandong City
Harbin City
Jinzhou City in Liaoning Province
Most of the greetings were sent over the Internet, but not all: practitioners from Chaoyang City secreted a beautiful calligraphy painting out of China and had it sent to North America.
Thanks for watching the FGMtv weekly news review.
See you next week!
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