(Minghui.org) On May 13, 2021, the 22nd World Falun Dafa Day, the Office of International Religious Freedom (IRF) under the U.S. Department of State tweeted in support of Falun Dafa.
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that was introduced to the public on May 13, 1992. Since May 13, 2000, practitioners around the world have been celebrating May 13 as “World Falun Dafa Day,” in honor of the public introduction of a practice that has benefited hundreds of millions around the world. Due to its tremendous popularity, the Chinese communist regime began to persecute Falun Dafa in July 1999.
The IRF tweeted that “On World Falun Dafa Day, we recognize the countless Falun Gong practitioners the PRC harasses & abuses simply for their beliefs.”
The tweet mentioned the U.S. Secretary of State Blinken’s decision a day ago to sanction Yu Hui, the former 610 Office director in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province for his “gross violations of human rights, namely the arbitrary detention of Falun Gong practitioners.”
The IRF also retweeted a message from its director Daniel Nadel on May 12 about Yu’s designation and the publication of its 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom, which “demonstrates the United States’ support for religious freedom and our steadfast commitment to promoting accountability for perpetrators of human rights violations.”
The report cited statistics of the persecution in 2020 compiled by Minghui.org, including 6,659 arrests and 8,576 of harassment cases of Falun Gong practitioners, 622 cases of practitioners who were sentenced to prison, and 83 cases of practitioners who passed away as a result of the persecution.
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