News and Events from around the World -- April 7, 2006
Issued by Clearwisdom Net

Content

- FDI: Exposure Prompts Surge of Killing in Chinese Hospitals, Falun Gong Bodies Carved Up for Organs
- Canada: The Song, "Please Help Our Family Members to Return Home" Reverberates in Front of Parliament
- New York: Snow on Qing Ming Day Speaks of Raging Injustice
- Argentina: People From All Walks of Life Protest the CCP's Sujiatun Concentration Camp
- Geneva: Candlelight Vigil to Stop the Persecution
- Montreal City Mayor Accepts Appeal Letter from Falun Gong

FDI: Exposure Prompts Surge of Killing in Chinese Hospitals, Falun Gong Bodies Carved Up for Organs
Officials Hasten to Destroy Evidence, Cash in on Concentration Camps NEWS - Apr. 06, 2006 Falun Dafa Information Center
[ http://faluninfo.net/ ]

FDI: Exposure Prompts Surge of Killing in Chinese Hospitals, Falun Gong Bodies Carved Up for Organs
--Officials Hasten to Destroy Evidence, Cash in on Concentration Camps NEWS - Apr. 06, 2006 Falun Dafa Information Center
[ http://faluninfo.net/ ]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Gail Rachlin 917-757-9780
Levi Browde: 646-415-0998
Erping Zhang: 646-533-6147

***BREAKING NEWS ***

NEW YORK (Falun Dafa Information Center) - Undercover investigators disclosed today that, in response to public exposure, officials in China have now begun a massive, deadly campaign to destroy evidence of concentration camps holding practitioners of Falun Gong; at the camps, the Falun Gong are killed after having their organs extracted for sale. The situation has now escalated to an even more alarming level.

The investigators said today that hospitals in at least eight Chinese provinces are working overtime to perform a flurry of surgeries, excising detainees' organs, so as to "cash in" on the bodies of the currently-held Falun Gong prisoners of conscience. Post operation, victims are to be killed and bodies cremated, or moved to other, hidden locations.

The organ "harvesting" spree appears directly connected to recent legislation in China, titled "Interim Regulation for Human Organ Transplant Practice," announced March 28, by China's Ministry of Health, that would in theory outlaw forced organ removal. The legislation will not go into effect until July 1--giving profit-bent officials a three-month window for wanton seizure of organs. The new legislation, the Center notes, closely followed disclosures of one such concentration camp for Falun Gong, in the Sujiatun district of Shenyang City, on March 6 (news). In the past China took no such measures, even after testimonial before the United States Congress detailing China's secret organ trade.

The overall trajectory is clear: the camps are exposed; Chinese Communist officials panic, discuss what to do (for three weeks); a massive cover-up effort is launched, including blanket denials and cosmetic legislation; before the legislation takes effect a frenzy to turn bodies into profit begins.

"What we're seeing in China is a systematic cover-up, one in which Falun Gong practitioners--tens of thousands it appears--are either being killed at an accelerated rate for their organs or shipped to other camps and facilities to eliminate evidence," says Center spokesperson Mr. Erping Zhang. "We are deeply, terribly concerned by reports of killing in mass numbers, and unfortunately, have every grounds to believe the statements being made."

"Regrettably, it appears China's regime is acting much more quickly on this matter than the Western press, governments, and investigative organizations. SARS showed us to what lengths China's rulers will go to cover up and save face, and in this case the stakes for them are infinitely higher," Zhang said.

According to investigators, hospitals and transplant centers in Heilongjiang, Hunan, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Yunnan, Anhui, Shan'xi, and Xinjiang are working overtime to perform forced transplant operations. Hospital staff members told undercover investigators that prospective patients should "come in quickly" if they want transplants. Staff added that they can find matching organs in as little as one or two days; under normal circumstances, such as in the U.S., such procedures typically take two years. One hospital staff member remarked that it would be difficult to so quickly arrange a transplant "after this batch of organs is used up."

Corroborating this picture are the remarks of a doctor in Shandong province, telephoned by undercover investigators working for the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, disclosed last week. The investigator said, "I want a kidney from those who practice Falun Gong, one that's totally healthy," to which the doctor replied, "We will definitely have a lot of suppliers like that in April." When asked why, he replied that, "I can't tell you that because it involves... Anyway, there is no need to go into that. I cannot go into that with you."

"Let's be clear on what's happening here," Zhang said today. "Falun Gong practitioners are being carved up and killed to provide a supply of lucrative organs. The international community must act, and it must act now. If we have learned anything from the genocides of the 20th century, it is that for horrific tragedy to take place, all it takes is silence and delay by those who look on."

A wealth of information surrounding the camps in China has emerged over the past month, with three sources from China testifying in grisly detail. Informants thus far include a journalist from China; a hospital staff member from Sujiatun, whose husband performed the surgeries described above, on live prisoners; and a military doctor from the Shenyang military zone. The latter said that Sujiatun is just one of 36 such facilities throughout China, and said the number of Sujiatun detainees--Falun Gong adherents--reached a peak of 10,000 in early 2005.

Of the camps throughout China, the largest camp, codenamed "672-S," is said to hold over 120,000 people, among whom are Falun Gong and other prisoners of conscience. "Falun Gong practitioners... are no longer regarded as human beings, but as raw materials for commercial products," the military doctor told The Epoch Times newspaper, adding that, "The Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee decided to treat Falun Gong practitioners as 'class enemies' and handle them in any manner that is economically profitable."

The current round of investigations into the camps is being led by the Integrated Committee to Investigate the Secret Sujiatun Concentration Camp and the Facts of the Persecution of Falun Gong in China, a civil group started by the Falun Dafa Association and Minghui website after the Sujiatun camp came to light.

A spokesperson for the Committee, Dr. Sherry Zhang, can be reached at: 1-415-845-5295.

# # #

NEWS - Apr. 06, 2006
Falun Dafa Information Center, www.faluninfo.net

Background
Founded in 1999, the Falun Dafa Information Center is a New York-based organization that documents the rights violations of adherents of Falun Gong (or "Falun Dafa") taking place in the People's Republic of China. In July of 1999 China's autocratic Communist Party launched an unlawful campaign of arrests, violence, and propaganda with the intent of "eradicating" the apolitical practice; it is believed certain leaders feared the influence of the practice's 100 million adherents. The campaign has since grown in violence and scope, with millions having been detained or sent to forced labor camps. The Center has verified details of over 2,800 deaths and over 44,000 cases of torture in custody (reports / sources). Falun Gong is a traditional-style Buddhist "qigong" practice, with roots in the Chinese heritage of cultivating the mind/body for health and spiritual growth.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER- Contacts: Gail Rachlin 917-757-9780, Levi Browde 646-415-0998, Erping Zhang 646-533-6147, or Christina Chai 917-386-5068. Email: contact@faluninfo.net, Website: http://faluninfo.net/

Canada: The Song, "Please Help Our Family Members to Return Home" Reverberates in Front of Parliament

"I miss my mom, I miss my daddy. They cannot return home because they are persecuted for practicing Falun Gong, following Truth, Compassion, Tolerance. I miss my children, I miss my spouse. They are forced to flee to avoid persecution because they tell the truth. We call on everyone with justice. We call for an end of the persecution to kind innocence. People, please offer your help to assist our family members to return home."

Ms. Bai Xue sings a song titled "Please help our family members to return home"

This is the song that renowned singer Bai Xue sang in front of the Canadian Parliament on April 3, 2006. The song is titled "Please Help Our Family Members to Return Home".

It was around Qingming-Chinese Memorial Day. The weather was cold, windy and rainy. More than 150 Falun Gong practitioners gathered in front of Parliament to commemorate those practitioners tortured to death and called on the Canadian Government to intervene and investigate live organ removal from practitioners imprisoned in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s secret concentration camps. Five members of parliament (MP) gave speeches to support and greet the practitioners in the rain.

The solemn song touched passers-by. The practitioners standing in the cold wind moved the passers-by. People came forward to get information about the atrocities occurring in China. Some signed the petition to support Falun Gong, some came to interview and some joined the gathering.

Sorrowfully commemorating fellow practitioners tortured to death in China

1. "The MP had tears when he shook hands with me."

MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj of Liberal Party

MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj of the Liberal Party of Canada said that he stepped out to support Falun Gong. He was moved by the practitioners' persistence. It is most horrible once the CCP's removal of body organs from dissidents is verified because 1.3 billion people live under such horrible tyranny.

After the speech, he walked towards the practitioners holding posters, shook hands and greeted each one, "Take care. I support you!" The practitioners answered, "Thank you for your support!"

A practitioner told the correspondent, "I did not hear clearly what he said to me. The MP had tears when he shook hands with me."

2. A local resident joins the petition and gives a speech

Local resident Ms. Simone Bourne gives a speech

A local resident, Ms. Simone Bourne signed the petition and volunteered to give a speech. She said that she heard of the rally from The Epoch Times and specially took two days off to participate in the rally. She said, "We must do what we should do and tell the CCP to immediately stop the torture and killing. People are persecuted to death for their spiritual belief and the organs are harvested from living persons. There is no excuse for such wrongdoing. Before the matter becomes worse, the Canadian Prime Minister and MPs should stand out to speak."

3. Voice of Ms. Zhu from Shengyang

Ms. Zhu gives a speech

Ms. Zhu said in her speech, "My husband and I came from Shenyang. We lived there for our first 30 years' of life. We have many memories and acquaintances there. How cruel that such crimes against humanity have occurred in the Sujiatun Concentration Camp located in a city for where I have good memories of home, little friends when I was young, classmates, colleagues, sisters' classmates, friends and colleagues, parents' friends and colleagues and acquaintances. It is possible that one of my high-school classmates is one of the doctors in the concentration camp and is removing a kidney of a classmate of my sister, even though he is still alive. His wife and children eagerly await for his return home... It sounds horrible, like a terror film, but it is real. I hereby call on Prime Minister and MPs representing the Canadian people to stand out and help stop the inhuman persecution."

New York: Snow on Qing Ming Day Speaks of Raging Injustice

Falun Gong practitioners in the New York area held a press conference in front of City Hall at 11a.m. on April 5, 2006 to condemn the CCP's harvesting living Falun Gong practitioners' organs in concentration camps. They called on the American government, the United Nations and the international community to conduct an immediate investigation into concentration camps on site in China and to help stop the persecution of Falun Gong.

Falun Gong practitioners rally in front of the City Hall in the snow to protest the killing of their fellow practitioners in China by the CCP.

It was sunny on the morning of April 5, but it suddenly started raining around 10 a.m. When the practitioners got ready for their rally, it started snowing heavily. Snowflakes turned to water as they dropped, as if the heavens were crying. Falun Gong practitioner Dai Bing said, "It is a terrible wrong! Both heaven and man are indignant!"

Falun Gong practitioners unfurled their banners in heavy snow. Several witnesses to the persecution gave speeches to expose and condemn the atrocities of the CCP.

Spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Information Center, Levi Browde, said that seven years ago, the CCP launched a persecution of Falun Gong practitioners who pursue Truth, Compassion and Tolerance. They used forced labor camps and jails to kill thousands of Falun Gong practitioners. Countless families were broken up with family members dispersed and missing. Recently, witnesses exposed a concentration camp in Sujiatun in Northeast China, where Falun Gong practitioners' organs are harvested for sale while they are still alive. According to the most recent investigation report by the International Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, live organ transplants using Falun Gong practitioners' organs has taken place in at least eight cities. There is no way to allow such an unprecedented atrocity to continue. We must take immediate action to stop it!

New York resident Hu Zhihua's brother has been imprisoned for four years for practicing Falun Gong. Shortly after he was released in 2004, the CCP's police abducted him secretly. He has been missing now for close to six months. Mr. Hu was deeply saddened on hearing the news of the Sujiatun Concentration Camp. He called for the international community to immediately investigate his brother's case.

Ms. Li Weixun and Ms. Mu Xiangjie, who had been rescued to the United States by UNHCR, testified to the brutality of the persecution with their personal experience.

Ms. Li said, "I was greatly shaken but not surprised when I heard about the live-harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners' organs, because this regime has accumulated so much debt of blood. When I was detained in Sujiatun Detention Center in 2002, I saw jailers prepare a large amount of tableware. But it wasn't put into use. It was said that the Falun Gong practitioners who had been scheduled to be transferred there ended up being transferred to another place. Now thinking back, they were more than likely transferred to the concentration camp. A fellow Falun Gong practitioner of mine has been missing for years." Ms. Li called for Falun Gong practitioners' families in China to look for their family members right away.

Ms. Mu said her first thought on hearing about the concentration camp was "The CCP could do such a thing." When in prison, she witnessed a woman Falun Gong practitioner who was deprived of sleep for days suddenly die. The prison claimed that she had died from a heart attack. Another 48-year-old woman practitioner was arrested for appealing in Beijing in September 2001. She refused to tell her name for fear of implicating her family members and workplace back home. Policemen put a big wooden board on her lower abdomen and stepped on it back and forth. She was still bruised after a month. It was too terrible to be seen! Policemen threatened that practitioners who refused to tell their names would be sent to northwest or northeast China. Now she realized they were referring to the concentration camps.

Mr. He Haiyin, who is in charge of Global Rescue of Falun Gong Practitioners, made an urgent call for rescue. Sujiatun Concentration Camp was established in 2001. There are 36 concentration camps like this in China. Given the brutal nature of the CCP, it will kill witnesses to destroy evidence if the international community doesn't take immediate action. It is the most urgent matter! All governments and international organizations must take immediate action to stop the murder!

Pointing at the flying snow, Mr. He said, "Qing Ming Day is Chinese Memorial day, especially for the dead who have been wronged. The coincidence of the snow and our rally today is to show the terrible wrong against the Falun Gong practitioners who have been dismembered alive in the CCP's concentration camp. After the persecution of the Jews 60 years ago, we have heard the pledge of "Never Again." However, there has been no action taken even when Falun Gong practitioners are gang-raped, dismembered and burned alive. It is a shame for the people living in free and civilized society."

Falun Gong practitioners also questioned the Body Exhibition being held in New York. According to the sponsor, Premier Exhibitions, all bodies came from China. Some were bodies nobody claimed. Falun Gong practitioners suspect that some were their missing fellow Falun Gong practitioners. They will investigate the source of those bodies.

Argentina: People From All Walks of Life Protest the CCP's Sujiatun Concentration Camp

On Friday, March 31, 2006, people from all walks of life rallied in front of the Chinese Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina to protest against the atrocities at the Sujiatun Concentration Camp and the persecution of Falun Gong over the past seven years.

Protest outside of Chinese Embassy | Protest outside of Chinese Embassy

Falun Gong practitioners from all over Argentina, including Buenos Aires, Tucuman, Mendoza, Cordorba and the well-known harbor city of Rosario, joined practitioners from the U.S., Canada, Australia, and others from all walks of life unfurled banners in front of the Chinese Embassy to protest the shocking atrocities of harvesting living Falun Gong practitioners' organs and to call for the end of the persecution of millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

During the protest, representatives of Falun Gong practitioners rang the doorbell of the Chinese Embassy. They entered the open door of the courtyard, but when they were about to deliver the protest letter containing facts of the persecution, the employees of the Chinese Embassy refused to open the second door. They called two more employees to drive the practitioners out. When practitioners told them they had come to see the Ambassador, the embassy employee, who would not tell his name, said, "You know the embassy's attitude toward Falun Gong. There is no need to talk."

Falun Gong practitioners left the embassy and said to the embassy officials from across the street, "The embassy's attitude toward Falun Gong is probably the CCP's attitude. But we hope you, as individuals, will have the right attitude out of conscience. Quit the CCP and create a bright future for yourselves."

The Chinese Embassy asked the police to drive the protestors away. But after Falun Gong practitioners told the police about the persecution of Falun Gong in China, the police allowed them to continue their protest in front of the Chinese Embassy as well as across the street.

Having failed to drive the practitioners away, the Chinese Embassy began to pressure the Argentine Foreign Affairs Department to make them disperse the protestors. When the delegate arrived, he learned about the persecution from protestors and showed understanding. He not only ignored the pressure from the Chinese Embassy, but also planned to attend the Forum Discussion on China by the Epoch Times at the University of Buenos Aires that evening in order to learn more about Chinese society under the CCP.

Geneva: Candlelight Vigil to Stop the Persecution

After calling upon the United Nations with a parade during the daytime, several hundred Falun Gong practitioners held a candlelight vigil on the evening of April 3, 2006 in front of the UN Commission of Human Rights to urge the international community to pay close attention to the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and help stop it.

Since the CCP began to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, the persecution taking place in China has escalated every year. From illegal detention, beating, force feeding, and later long-term persecution and tortures including water dungeons, tiger bench, sticking bamboo under the fingernails, strait-jacket, and the death bed. Many women practitioners have been sexually abused. Recently several witnesses revealed that the CCP is harvesting organs from live Falun Gong practitionersin order to make huge profits, then cremating the corpses to destroy the evidence. This made people realize that the CCP's brutality in the persecution of Falun Gong has gone beyond most people's imagination.

Spectacular scene captured during the candlelight vigil

The Falun Gong practitioners who came to Geneva to appeal to the United Nations to pay close attention to this matter and conduct an independent investigation included an 87-year old man who suffered greatly in a communist country, a mother with a several-month-old baby, a successful businessman from Italy, and a nun from Taiwan who saved her traveling expenses by walking instead of taking public transportation. Most people took time off from study or work, found the cheapest airline or train ticket and booked inexpensive hotel rooms in Geneva in order to express the heartfelt wish of "stopping the persecution immediately, and rescuing Falun Dafa practitioners."

In the view of Mr. Zhu from the Netherlands, the CCP has acted against human nature by harvesting organs from live Falun Gong practitioners. He believes there are still a lot of things, probably things more brutal still concealed. However, all of the CCP's vicious acts will be known to the world someday. Mr. Zhu hoped that through the diligent appeal by Falun Gong practitioners, more and more people will wake up from the deception of the CCP, see clearly the truth of the persecution of innocent Falun Gong, and join the anti-persecution effort.

Montreal City Mayor Accepts Appeal Letter from Falun Gong

April 2, 2006 was "Clean Montreal Day". Montreal Mayor Mr. Gérald Tremblay and several city officials visited Chungshan Park in Chinatown on that date. Falun Gong practitioners presented a letter to the Mayor asking for public awareness about the crimes of the Chinese Communist Party's Sujiatun Concentration Camp, where organs are harvested from live Falun Gong practitioners.

Mayor Tremblay accepts the letter from Falun Gong practitioners

According to a report from Kaiwen Yang of the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), in the following days after Sujiatun Concentration Camp was exposed, WOIPFG started an urgent nationwide investigation in China. The initial results showed that there are at least 36 similar concentration camps in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shangdong, Liaoning, Guangdong, Human and Hubei Provinces. The crime of removing organs from live Falun Gong practitioners is still happening there.

It was reported that Mayor Tremblay will visit Shanghai next week because Montreal and Shanghai are sister cities. Falun Gong practitioners presented the Mayor with the letter, hoping that he would learn of the inhuman crimes happening in China. The practitioners hope the Mayor will convey the contents of the letter to the Shanghai City government during his visit. Mayor Tremblay said he certainly would do so.

Falun Gong practitioners set up display boards and handed out truth-clarification flyers exposing the crimes in Sujiatun Concentration Camp, calling on the public to be aware of the atrocity and to help end the persecution of Falun Gong in China.

Many passersby learned of the situation in Sujiatun and were very angry about it. An immigrant from Cambodia, Kim, said to a Falun Gong practitioner, "The Communist Party is just too bad." He continued, "I support you. Your actions moved me. You must persist with your endeavor. Every time you have a signature drive, I come and write my name and address clearly."

Kim took the initiative to clarify the truth to passersby and led them to the practitioner with the signature collection form. Before he left, Kim said to a practitioner, "Be careful. A lot of Chinese students here are Communist Party spies."

Two policemen for local security were watching out for the practitioners. They left after 4:00 p.m. when most of the practitioners had left. A practitioner wanted to give them a flyer, but the policemen said they were on duty and couldn't accept them at that time. They already knew about Falun Gong and asked, "Do Chinese Communist Party spies harass you often? Next time, please call us and write down their license plate number. We will investigate. It is our responsibility."

On March 13, when Sujiatun Concentration Camp and the organ harvesting crimes were exposed, Falun Gong practitioners held a rally in Chungshan Park. A Chinese man tried to create a disturbance at the rally, but he police arrested and fined him.