Vancouver Falun Gong practitioner assaulted in front of the Chinese Consulate

Vancouver: At 3:05 a.m. on August 31st, while Falun Gong practitioner, Raymond Zhang, was doing his shift in front of the Chinese consulate while four Chinese men drove up in a light coloured SUV. Three of them got out of their vehicle and began to punch his head without saying a word. Luckily Raymond was in the hut and only suffered superficial injuries. Zhang said: “I think that this assault was either directly ordered by the Chinese government, or it is the result of hate-incitement perpetuated by the Chinese Communist regime in China and abroad.”

Raymond is one of 80 practitioners who goes regularly to the Consulate site to protest the mistreatment of his family members persecuted in China for their belief. Raymond’s mother, Yang Hui-shen who is a Falun Gong practitioner, has been arrested three times because as a physician, she talked to her patients about Falun Gong. Zhang says that his mother was picked up by the police after officers broke into her home, ransacked it and abducted her. He said his mother shouted "Falun Gong is innocent" as she was being led away into the labour camp. She has been illegally sentenced to 6 years in China since May 2004. Raymond sister's, Zhang Chun-gang, has been illegally jailed in Masanjia labour camp in China since May 2004. They were both forced to do hard labour. His sister went on a hunger strike to protest the inhuman persecution and was punished by being forced to stand for extended periods of time, humiliated, and subjected to male guards’ sexual advances. The latest news is that his sister is now in Thailand and apparently arrangements are being made for his mother to come to Canada.

But, it’s not hard to figure out that this kind of violence, at worst, is done to intimidate practitioners in their willingness to maintain their 24-hour appeal by scaring them. At best, we believe it is the result of the Chinese Communist Regime hate-incitement campaign targeting the Falun Gong at home and abroad to silence their voice. It is well documented that the Regime exports its hate to the overseas community through the Chinese media and materials distributed to VIPs via its Consulates. Is this what drove Mayor Sam Sullivan to ask the Falun Gong to pack up their 'blue wall' showing China's mistreatment of Falun Gong and see them in court? One can only assume the worst.

In fact similar assaults have occurred in Canada before. In February 2000, MP Rob Anders was physically assaulted at the Ottawa Parliament. Rob recounts (FGHRWG):

"I wore [a T-shirt that talked about Falun Gong] out to a function that was being hosted by the People's Republic's embassy here, in this building [Parliament]. I stood at the back of the room, and then all of a sudden I had four or five men surround me and start to harass me, and point fingers, and jostle me physically, saying that I had to leave, that I wasn't welcome, go home, you know, cowboy, you don't know what you're doing… and what crossed my mind immediately was four or five people that comprise a gang on behalf of the People's Republic of China think they can get away with doing that to me as a Member of Parliament, on Canadian soil, in my place of work, in the House of Commons - can you imagine what they're doing to people back home in their own country? It was absolutely over the top! And then when a media reporter came over with his camera, they started to grab his camera, they tried to force it down to the ground, they told him to go away… They were issuing orders to a
member of the free press here in Canada. … It was absolutely outrageous. And it just proved what Falun Dafa is up against. ... We're at a very critical moment. If we don't take a stand now, history will look back at us and sigh."

One more incident happened on December 28, 2001 (WOIPFG) “New Year Movie Party.”

Mr. Xueliang Wang accepted the invitation to participate. Yet, to his surprise, the so-called “party” was in reality for the purpose of exhibiting pictorial materials that defame Falun Gong. Mr. Wang took out his camera to take photos and was abruptly dragged into a room by several people and beaten. Following this incident, the deceit and violence of the Chinese Embassy shocked all sectors of Canadian society and led to strong repercussion. Moreover, the incident led to investigations by the police and
related institutions.

“The e-mail message that I received only mentioned the movie party; it made no mention of the exhibit.” Mr. Wang said to the “WOIPFG”: “After I took photos, they forcibly pushed and shoved me, dragging me into a room one floor down. They closed the door and had someone guard the entrance. Afterwards someone violently punched at my head. Xiaolong Ma pressed me down on the floor many times and said to the others: ‘You go outside. I will take care of him.’ Then he took off his suit jacket, tightly twisted my arm, and struck me several times. In order to escape from legal responsibility, Xiaolong Ma deliberately struck me in places of the body that do not show injury easily so that he would not leave any traces of the beating.”

Similar incidents of intimidation and assault have also happened in the United States, Iceland, Germany, France, Russia, Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Argentina, South Africa, Singapore, and many more. Simply put, the Chinese regime has exported its persecution to the world as a global campaign of evil against conscience.

However this will not deter Vancouver practitioners who will remain in front of the Chinese Consulate on Granville, as they stated five years ago, until the persecution of Falun Gong ends.

Report: WOIPF 2004 Chinese Officials’s Activities on Canadian Soil A.7

Related posts:

Tyee.ca: Chinese Protester Attacked in Vancouver

Vancouver FG 24-hr site: Free speech never more needed than against evil

Vancouver 24-hour Falun Gong protest site still going

Mayor Sullivan, democracy, Communist Consulate, and Falun Gong Protest

Vancouver Mayor getting tough on Falun Gong

Vancouver FG 24-hr site: Free speech never more needed than against evil

Update: The Vancouver Falun Gong 24-hour site in front of the Chinese Consulate on Granville has been running smoothly for five years. Their banner (blue wall) exposes the atrocities of the persecution of Falun Gong in China and elsewhere in the world and the hut keeps the old ladies warm in the wintertime and cool on hot summer days. Suddenly Mayor Sam Sullivan says that the blue wall has to go according to City bylaws. One may wonder if this is a bylaw issue or is it simply Sam's way of kowtoing to Communist China? Clive Ansley and Daphne Bramham have more on this.

Clive Ansley is the legal counsel for Falun Gong practitioners and this is his take on it:

"The purpose of the bylaw very clearly is to prevent obstruction of the public. There isn't any obstruction here. The whole context of that bylaw is to prevent people blocking streets and sidewalks and so forth, which isn't the case."

Ansley added that there are important Charter of Rights and Freedoms issues involved. (more)

Under extreme provocation, he is extending the olive branch of tolerance to the perpetrators of genocide.

He has effectively told the Chinese government: "We do indeed understand that the lives of mass murderers and torturers are seldom easy and, in the spirit of friendship, we are happy to assist you in stifling the voices of Canadian victims, which so embarrasses you." (more)

Free speech never more needed than against evil
by Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun

Vancouver Sun August 26, 2006 - CHINA Growing evidence of atrocities against Falun Gong followers leaves Mayor Sam Sullivan looking more than a little foolish

Falun Gong practioners protest on Granville Street outside the Chinese consulate: Free speech is sometimes a messy business.

The Falun Gong's shack and wall of protest signs outside the Chinese consulate's residence in Vancouver is proof of that.

And unless Mayor Sam Sullivan has his way, it proves daily to passersby that free speech is alive if not always thriving in Canada.

The posters aren't pretty. They aren't meant to be.

That the Chinese consul must face this each day is no doubt unpleasant. But that discomfort pales beside the gross inhumanity of which the Chinese government is accused.

There is growing evidence that in addition to harvesting organs from prisoners, the Chinese government is complicit in the harvesting of live organs from Falun Gong members who are found to be a match with wealthy patients from the developed world who are desperate for new hearts, lungs, kidneys and corneas.

Falun Gong teaches meditation through exercise -- a new twist on the centuries-old qigong -- that was begun in 1992 and had grown to include more than 70 million adherents before it was banned by the Chinese government in July 1999.

Last month, David Matas, a respected human-rights lawyer, and David Kilgour, a lawyer and former secretary of state for the Asia Pacific, released a report into the allegations that they did for the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of the Falun Gong. The report is available on its website (http://eng.cipfg.org).

Denied entry to China to search for proof of the allegations, Kilgour and Matas concluded that there is enough evidence of large-scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners that there must be a serious and determined effort to substantiate the claims and legislation in all countries to prevent cross-border organ shopping.

"The allegations, if true, would represent a grotesque form of evil, which, despite all the depravations humanity has seen, would be new to this planet," they wrote. "The very horror makes us reel back in disbelief. But that disbelief does not mean that the allegations are untrue."

Their report was denounced by the Chinese government before it was released.

Before the Falun Gong was outlawed, there were 18,500 transplants in a five-year period in China. Between 2000 and 2005, there have been 60,000. Matas and Kilgour found that there are 10,000 more transplants annually than there are identifiable donors. They believe as many as 4,000 Falun Gong members have died after organ harvesting.

There are dozens of Chinese companies offering transplants. One cited by Matas and Kilgour was offering liver and kidney transplants for $180,000 US, hearts for $160,000 and $30,000 for a cornea. A quick search pulled up half a dozen different sites all offering competitive prices. BEK-Transplant, which does the transplants at Peking University hospitals and in Shanghai, has variable rates. Seniors get a $5,000 US discount on kidney transplants that go for $80,000. But there's a $5,000 additional fee for people with O-type blood.

Liver transplants are $135,000 -- $120,000 for seniors.

BEK says the donors are executed prisoners and waiting times vary from two to six months. Another site said waiting times are often a week compared to three or four years in Canada and the United States

Matas and Kilgour have described what is going on in China as as a grotesque crime against humanity. Their report has bolstered growing outrage. This week, Rabbi Reuven Bulka, a member of the Canadian Council for Donation and Transplantation, joined Kilgour in urging Canada and other countries to boycott the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing if no independent investigation is held.

Last week, after Kilgour met with Australian MPs, Australian foreign affairs officials confirmed that in July they asked China to allow an independent investigation.

For Sullivan to lump the messiness of this principled protest with derelict boats in False Creek, graffiti and litter belittles what may be an unfolding genocide.

But it seems the long arm of China has tapped the mayor -- an unabashed Sino-phile -- on the shoulder.

"When I go to China, they treat me like an emperor," the mayor told The Sun's Wency Leung recently. "We don't have that tradition of that red-carpet thing, so it's a little embarrassing for me in a way."

What seems to embarrass Vancouver's mayor is not the over-the-top treatment of minor officials like him who visit China, but that we democracy-prone Canadians don't do more kowtowing here.

Without the Falun Gong protest on one of Vancouver's busiest streets, many people would know nothing about the Falun Gong or the persecution of its adherents.

Without the protests of Falun Gong members and others, the Canada Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission might have blithely supported the Rogers-sponsored application to beam nine Chinese-government channels directly into Canadian homes via satellite. The Chinese media is strictly controlled by the Communist party. Reporters Without Borders has described China as one of the worst countries for censorship and in its 2006 report notes that "television and radio are subjected to even greater control than the written press."

The Falun Gong protest reminds us that we are part of a broader community and have a responsibility to do what we can to stop human rights violations wherever they occur. If that means putting up with a little bit of mess to ensure justice for people with no voice, it's worth it.

The mayor clearly doesn't get it, but he is only one vote on council. The rest of the councillors need to stand up for free speech, and they should add their voices to the call for an independent investigation into organ-harvesting in China.

Sullivan regime tightens gag on free speech by Sophia Bronwen, North Vancouver, Vancouver Sun

August 29, 2006 - Re: Free speech never more needed than against evil, Daphne Bramham, Aug. 26 "The rest of the councillors need to stand up for free speech, and they should add their voices to the call for an independent investigation into organ-harvesting [of Falun Gong practitioners] in China," writes Daphne Bramham.

This may be a tad difficult for the councillors. Just before Mayor Sam Sullivan announced the launching of a spontaneous bylaw enforcement campaign targeting the Falun Gong appeal site, city council received a report from the Roles, Relationships and Responsibilities Review Committee, which included protocols limiting councillors and community advisory committee members in their freedom to critique city policy. Furthermore, the report stated that anyone who ran afoul of the rules would be subject to discipline recommended by the mayor.

I think this policy needs to be considered in more depth, not only for municipal staff, but also for the citizens of Vancouver.

Sullivan regime tightens gag on free speech by Joan Quain, Victoria VanSun

August 29, 2006 Daphne Bramham makes an excellent point: The discomfort the Chinese consul may feel upon seeing the Falun Gong protest site is nothing compared to the atrocities heaped on the group in China. The same goes for whatever discomfort Mayor Sam Sullivan might experience when his Chinese business cronies come to visit.

The dictators in Beijing have reached a new and despicable low with the organ harvesting-for-profit scheme. It would show some real leadership if Sullivan were to do all in his power to enable the Falun Gong to call attention to the vicious persecution, now in its seventh year, rather than working to stifle their voice.

Related articles and links to this post: here, here, and here.

24 Hours: There's far worse problems than Falun Gong's protest

Vancouver Courier: City 'hospitality' trumps ethics

Globe and Mail: Falun Gong protesters oppose injunction Group says bylaw shouldn't apply to them

Vancouver Sun: Falun Gong denounces mayor City hall wants to force the group to dismantle protest site outside Chinese consulate

24 Hours Vancouver - Canada Sullivan still plans to oust protesters

The Province: Protest site must go, city tells court

24 Hours: Falun Gong to maintain ongoing vigil

G&M:Court order sought against Falun Gong protest

VANCOUVER/CKNW(980) Falun Gong members vow to fight city

CTV: City takes legal action against Falun Gong protest

Vancouver Sun: City seeking injunction to remove Falun Gong shack, signs from front of Chinese consulate

Guo Guoting defended Falun Gong in China

Since a few days ago it has become obvious that the crackdown on rights lawyers is a sign of paranoia on the part of the dictators and is a main factor behind their drastic measures. As we all know by now the Communist Party won’t last forever and the Chinese people are taking all the right steps to liberate themselves from this tyranny mainly by quitting the Party. Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who has been missing for days, had been pushing the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party recently and because of his effort quickly became a symbol of freedom across the nation.

"Recently, there's an overseas organisation called the Future China Forum, led by lawyer Guo Guoding and Professor Yuan Hongbing, and they cooperated with lawyer Gao, and drafted a future constitution for China.

I think, on this point, it's highly possible that the Chinese Communist Party charges lawyer Gao with colluding with overseas anti-China forces, and subverting the state, and the crime for subverting the state is very serious," he says. (more)

The dictators are furious and mad over these movements leading to the imminent fall of the Party. It wouldn't be surprising if Luo Gan, under the guidance of Jiang Zemin, is calling the shots.

According to Reuters: China's top security official, Luo Gan, recently warned the "rights protection" movement harbored forces dedicated to overturning the Communist Party.

"We must adopt vigorous measures to effectively prevent hostile forces and people with ulterior motives exploiting conflicts within the people to create incidents and engaging in sabotage under the disguise of 'rights protection'," Luo said in a June issue of a party journal.

Yet campaigners and dissidents said legal skirmishes offered more hope than outright political warfare with China's rulers.

"Using the law to promote rights can only have a limited impact when the judiciary is not independent," said Liu Xiaobo, a veteran dissident now under house arrest in Beijing.

"But street politics is even more restricted. If you want rule of law, you can't get it without lawyers". (full report)

Exiled Shanghai lawyer, Guo Guoting, elaborates on the judicial system in China and the war on Falun Gong.

For the latest reports go here.

Lawyer denounces China's tactics
by Richard Watts, Times Colonist

Victoria Times Colonist: August 24, 2006 - Victoria's Guo Ting Guo was a top commercial lawyer in Shanghai, specializing in maritime law, when he agree to represent a few human rights activists.

Guo dared to represent practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual meditative movement banned in China. Subsequently, his home was raided by more than 30 police officers and he found himself forbidden to practice law. In 2005, he fled the country and now lives in Canada as a refugee.

Now, the 46-year-old Christian (not a Falun Gong practitioner) is living in Victoria, learning English and hoping to practise law again. His wife remains in China and is divorcing him. His teenage daughter is in Victoria, but angry at her father because she thinks he broke up her family.

Guo uses his new Canadian freedom to accuse the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government of being rotten and corrupt. He was on the steps of the legislature Wednesday with a handful of others, mostly Canadian Falun Gong practitioners in a small demonstration.

Flanked by grisly pictures of what the demonstrators contended were victims of Chinese torture, they stressed the need to spread the word about atrocities they say are happening now in China.

Demonstrators pointed to a recent report out of Ottawa, charging that Chinese authorities are harvesting human organs from imprisoned Falun Gong members for sale overseas.

The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa has recently denied the allegation of Falun Gong organ harvests, saying organs are only harvested from legally executed prisoners with written consent.

At the demonstration, Guo said he has no doubt the Falun Gong members are being killed in prison to harvest their organs for sale. He described Falun Gong as something like Tai Chi exercises with the addition of spirituality. Guo said members have a sense of the universe and people's place in it. It's more of a spiritual philosophy than a religion.

Guo said he believes the Chinese government's harsh reaction was driven by the speed of the movement's spread. He recalls official Chinese reports documenting the spread from a single meeting of 50 people in 1992 to eventually 70 million people, including government members.

But in 1999, the Chinese government declared the movement illegal and began a crackdown. Guo believes it's just a symptom of a bigger problem in communist China. "Falun Gong is not the first victim and it won't be the last," said Guo.

He said he would like to see the Canadian government taking a firm stand to publicly condemn China for its human rights abuses, including its treatment of Falun Gong.

At the demonstration, Marie Beaulieu, a Falun Gong practitioner living in Victoria, said given how benign the meditative exercises are, she appreciates why people outside China can't understand what is happening. "This presentation does not make sense at all to us. We can't understand it in the West at all," said Beaulieu.

Support Gao Zhisheng by quitting the Party

Today, Victoria Falun Gong practitioners and exiled lawyer Guo Guoting with the rights defense movement and Future China Forum took part in a rally calling the for the release of Gao Zhisheng and to stop the crackdown on human rights lawyers in China. When asked about the judicial system in China, Guoting said: "In China, if the dispute is not so sensitive, such as in political cases or with Falun Gong, maybe the law can be applied. But if the case involves a leader or a Communist Party cadre, the law will not be implemented at all."

ABC reports: "Recently, there's an overseas organisation called the Future China Forum, led by lawyer Guo Guoding and Professor Yuan Hongbing, and they cooperated with lawyer Gao, and drafted a future constitution for China.

I think, on this point, it's highly possible that the Chinese Communist Party charges lawyer Gao with colluding with overseas anti-China forces, and subverting the state, and the crime for subverting the state is very serious," he says. (more)

Human Rights Watch said the pattern of abuses against lawyers contravened China's obligations under international law, as well as its stated commitment to the rule of law. China's constitution and numerous domestic laws protect all individuals against violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure discrimination, pressure or other arbitrary action as a consequence of legitimate exercise of their rights. In addition, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees that everyone is entitled to a fair trial, as does the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China signed in 1998 but has not yet ratified.

Human Rights Watch called on the Chinese authorities to release Gao, declare a mistrial in Chen's case and ensure that lawyers are free of intimidation and interference as they carry out their professional duties; they are entitled to this protection under the United Nations Statement of the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.

Epoch Times keeps us posted on Gao's arrest and rescue effort here.

SPEECH TO THE RALLY FOR RESCUING

RIGHTS ATTORNEY GAO ZHISHENG

We stand here today in solidarity to honour the same cause as the brave lawyers from China. A few days ago, China’s most prominent rights lawyer and rights defender, Gao Zhisheng, was arrested by the Chinese authorities. Known as the Martin Luther King of China, Gao is a Christian who has been the most visible critic of the Communist regime, within China, for its persecution against Christians, Muslims and practitioners of the Falun Gong meditation practice.

In China, almost no one is willing to risk career, family, freedom, and sometimes life itself by openly defying the fiats of the Chinese Communist Party. At present, the Chinese regime is engaged in a campaign of genocide against Falun Gong practitioners. The Chinese Communist Party has made a political decision to completely destroy its people, by whatever means necessary and remove Falun Gong entirely from Chinese society. The government has committed almost 3,000 documented murders of Falun Gong practitioners in detention and other institutions to the present time. Hundreds of thousands of practitioners who refuse to give up their belief have been incarcerated in slave labour camps and are undergoing some of the most diabolical tortures ever conceived by human minds. The recent news of large-scale organ harvesting targeting the practitioners across China is one example of the most grotesque form of evil on the planet. Their bodies are cremated after all vital organs are removed while they are still alive. Thousands have disappeared and their family members wonder if they have become unwilling organ donors. The July 6 report of the independent investigation conducted by Kilgour-Matas confirms those allegations to be true. It is said that the mounting evidence amounts to genocide.

Of central concern to lawyers should be the way in which the Chinese ‘legal’ system and ‘judiciary’ have been prostituted to the whims of the political leadership and the restraints which have been imposed on lawyers.

The Chinese Government has formally forbidden all lawyers to take on the defense of any Falun Gong practitioners who are charged (or more commonly just sentenced to prison, without charge), usually on the basis of having ‘used an evil cult to obstruct the working of the law’. Moreover, the courts have been formally instructed that under no account are they to accept any lawsuits on behalf of Falun Gong members. In addition, the courts are instructed that with respect to any matter relating to the Falun Gong, the courts shall accept the instructions of the ‘610 Office’, a completely extrajudicial body established by the government which lacks any constitutional authority to whatever to usurp the authority of the ‘courts’.

The Chinese government has also instructed police, prison guards, and prosecutors to use ‘all necessary means’ to deal with Falun Gong practitioners. These are code words meaning ‘You may kill or torture with impunity’. In fact, there have been specific directives to these officials and functionaries stating that if Falun Gong practitioners should die under questioning, the interrogators will not be held be responsible, the deaths should be listed as suicides, and the bodies cremated as quickly as possible.

In this context, it is almost beyond comprehension that a Chinese lawyer would step forward to defend Falun Gong practitioners and defy the Party/Government/Courts/Police in a state that is today the world's most serious violator of human rights. But that is what Gao Zhisheng has done.

Let me tell you briefly about this. Over the past seven years, Falun Gong practitioners have called for a stop to the persecution. This year is unique in that attorney Gao Zhisheng, who had delivered open letters to the CCP supporting Falun Gong, now stands beside Falun Gong practitioners. An individual in Tianjing City once appraised Gao Zhisheng's letters as having "Thoroughly wiped out the evil names that the Chinese Communist Party had tried to impose upon Falun Gong." Many people in China began to see the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong through Gao's letters. His subsequent harassments by the CCP also drew international attention.

Facing ever-raising indignation in China, some people prefer violence, some persist in peaceful reform, while others maintain a pessimistic stance. The widespread distribution of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party accompanied by the huge wave of withdrawals from the CCP has also captured international attention.

Gao said, "In my opinion, the crux of China's problems is the evil system currently maintained by the CCP. Once the CCP collapses, this system will naturally disintegrate. However, many people still hold unrealistic perceptions of the CCP. How can we help these people eliminate such false hopes or improve their understandings? The Nine Commentaries provides a good means for people to see the CCP for what it is. I believe that spreading The Nine Commentaries is presently the most peaceful and effective way of reforming China. In fact, as you have all seen, The Nine Commentaries' effect on China is already in progress. The number of people withdrawing from the CCP every day continues to break previous records."

"I can say that I now have a better understanding of the Party. The Nine Commentaries was very helpful. And this is not only my personal opinion."

Someone from Chongqing told him, "Attorney Gao, I distribute hundreds of copies of The Nine Commentaries to my fellow countrymen every year." He described to Attorney Gao his personal transformation—"Previously, as did most Chinese, I also trusted the CCP without doubt. I felt so sad that first time I read The Nine Commentaries. So I read it a second time and then a third time. Then, I started paying attention to the actions of the CCP which directly affected my daily life."

After that, this person read the three open letters written by Attorney Gao. Now, he has quit the CCP and has been urging his friends to quit as well. He said, "Attorney Gao, now that I have quit the CCP, I feel my soul has been cleansed."

Attorney Gao said, "I think what he said is also a reflection of my own thoughts. Just as I wrote at the end of my CCP-quitting statement: This was the proudest day of my life!"

Gao went on to say, "Actually, we really did not question much about the CCP's past actions and rules before, especially because we did not know its past history. Someone once asked me why I had not cared about Falun Gong during the previous years and why I only started to pay attention recently. Before 2003, I really did not think about whether it was unjust for the CCP to suppress Falun Gong. I was not intentionally seeking anything when I read The Nine Commentaries, but it has transformed our minds step by step."

Since the end of 2005, Attorney Gao's fate has been joined together with the cultivation practice of Falun Gong, which has now been persecuted for seven years. They have one thing in common: each did not give up their beliefs under the pressure from the CCP, but rather each grew stronger in the resistance against the persecution.

Attorney Gao said, “At this time, I want the outside world to consider this question: During these past seven years, has the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the CCP changed at all? My life has been constantly disrupted by the CCP just because of paying close attention to the issue of the CCP's continuing persecution of Falun Gong. This tells you something. What I have done is like stirring up a hornet's nest! The CCP has not lessened a bit in its persecution of Falun Gong."

The Beijing Justice Bureau ordered Gao Zhisheng to shut down his law firm and stop practicing law for one year beginning on November 4, 2005 which was later on shut down permanently. According to the CECC, Pu Zhiqiang speculated that Gao's open letter calling attention to the "barbaric persecution" of Falun Gong members may have been just one of several reasons for increased government harassment of Gao. Gao had represented numerous activists and taken on sensitive cases of particular interest to news media and human rights groups in 2005. He subsequently was subjected to constant harassment from the CCP thugs including a few attempts on his life. Nevertheless, Gao never once stop to express his views on the evilness of the Party and soon became the leading symbol of the freedom movement in China.

Recently three more lawyers were detained. Even in Hong Kong, a lawmaker was seriously beaten a couple of days ago due to his membership in the Coalition to investigate the persecution of Falun Gong. These detentions and formal arrests have triggered a nationwide campaign (in China) to oppose violence, and this campaign is quickly spreading.

Attorney Guo Feixiong suggests that various international and domestic strengths need to be firm and unyielding in rescuing Gao Zhisheng. “We are not rescuing one person, but China's entire morale and the human spirit. What we are helping is China's entire democratic movement and the human rights movement. Not only does it have an individual characteristic, but it also has a comprehensive overall significance."

We are very worried for Gao’s safety and will demand that the Chinese regime release him without harm and stop immediately the crackdown on human rights lawyers in China.

We wish them well as they slowly progress towards a new free China.

Thank you for joining us in this effort.

Heishi

Related Articles:

Interview with Gao Zhisheng Before His Arrest

The Winning Strategy for Rescuing Gao Zhisheng

Captain Yuan Sheng Joins D.C. Rally for Rescuing Gao Zhisheng

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Letter: Hu is China's new desperado

Taipei Times: (Letter) Monday, Aug 21, 2006, Page 8 -While China is enjoying an economic boom, it is also faced with a great deal of depressing news. In fact, its dictators are exasperated because more than 12 million people have quit the Chinese Communist Party since the launch of the "Nine Commentaries" on the party. Hundreds of thousands of angry peasants have rioted on the streets and we have seen the shocking exposure of large-scale organ harvesting targeting Falun Gong practitioners.

Among the chaos, there is suddenly a new campaign to reinforce the party. Chinese President Hu Jintao's slogan for the campaign is a call to memorize Jiang Zemin's new book ("Jiang's book hits the `must read' list" Aug. 17, page 4).

I call it desperation. It is pretty safe to assume that this euphoria is not shared by everyone. In the West, Jiang will always be remembered as the butcher from Beijing who cleverly orchestrated the Tiananmen Square Massacre just to get ahead. He also began the persecution of the Falun Gong to gain more power.

His hands are stained with the blood of countless innocent people.

He has put humanity to shame -- why revere him?

Marie Beaulieu
Victoria, British Columbia

Anti-Falun Gong Communist propaganda hits cities in Canada

A rash of hate-incitement communist propaganda against Falun Gong made its way to major cities across Canada on August 18 and 19. Tens of thousands of copies of a 32-page special edition of Hua Qiao Shibao were distributed to Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Richmond. Hua Qia Shibao is administered by none other than Montreal’s La Presse Chinoise.

This is not the first time that La Presse Chinoise prints defamatory material against Falun Gong. In fact this all started in November 2001. Shortly after, practitioners took action in December 2001, and sued the newspaper for “defamation” in the Superior Court of Quebec in Montreal. But this didn’t keep La Presse Chinoise from printing more massive filty material on Falun Gong thereby violating the court injunction. To make a long story short, as a result, the petitioners sued the newspaper for “contempt of court” which is still pending. Meanwhile the “defamation” lawsuit was dismissed in the superior court in 2005 and the practitioners have appealed this decision since then.

This editorial, mostly in Chinese language with 8 pages in English, is full of fabricated stories from distorting the teachings to name calling and portraying the practitioners as weird and insane self-immolators. Furthermore, it classifies the Kilgour-Matas’ response to a report from the Chinese Embassy criticizing the KM report on allegations of organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China, as “illegal and interfering with Chinese government internal affairs”. The special editorial states: “I hope people can understand that the Chinese Embassy in Canada is not supposed to and cannot interfere with this Canadian internal issue.”

The mere fact that this special edition appeared in many outlets on the West Coast, for free, on the very same day it was issued in the East, is enough to raise eyebrows--because it is after all a local East-coast paper.

The practitioners have immediately contacted their local police departments to have what is considered 'a serious well organized hate crime' further investigated.

It is worth mentioning that in February 2004, the Ontario Superior Court convicted Pan Xinchun, the Deputy Consul General of China in Toronto, of libel. Here’s the story via Now Toronto.

“Take the recent strange case of Joel Chipkar and the disappearing deputy consul general. A Toronto real estate agent and Falun Gong spokesperson, Chipkar had written a letter to the Toronto Star challenging the Canadian government to publicly out China for its human rights abuses. Pan Xinchun, the former Chinese deputy consul general here, responded in the same paper, labelling Chipkar a "sinister cult" member out to "instigate hatred" and "confrontations between China and Canada."

Chipkar got a lawyer and launched a defamation suit against Pan, which he eventually won. In December of last year, a judge awarded Chipkar $11,000, but Pan has since skipped town. Efforts by Chipkar to have him declared "persona non grata" by the Canadian government have apparently disappeared into the bureaucratic ether in Ottawa while government lawyers "formulate a legal opinion," says a Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson.

"I've been left on my own by the Canadian government," says Chipkar.”

More on hate propaganda

The second response by Kilgour-Matas (to the Chinese Embassy) called the embassy's reply a mere attack on Falun Gong. It demonstrates how a vital tactic of the CCP's hate propaganda campaign is used against Falun Gong...here's an excerpt:

17. The second China response is primarily an elaboration on the "evil cult" attack on Falun Gong. The second response has eight paragraphs. Only three deal with organ harvesting. One talks about Canadian-Chinese relations. Four paragraphs, the bulk of the response, are a venomous attack on Falun Gong replete with false, slanderous allegations.

It is this sort of slander which, in China, depersonalizes and dehumanizes the Falun Gong and makes possible the violation of their basic human rights. Indeed, the fact that the Government of China would make a hate filled attack on Falun Gong the focus of their response to our report reinforces the analysis of the report.

The propaganda against the Falun Gong in these two responses is a form of incitement to hatred, unacceptable in Canada. It is an abuse of their diplomatic presence in Canada for China to engage in this form of incitement. (full report)

Self-immolation; False Fire

Here is more about the self-immolation incident staged by the Chinese Communist Party on Jan. 23, 2001. This incident was key in defaming Falun Gong throughout the world. After verification, the IED called it a hoax.

Watch the False Fire video here.

Key points: China’s violent assault on Falun Gong practitioners is “State Terrorism”; the supposed self-immolation incident “was staged by the government”.

International Education Development*

Statement in the United Nations (and now part of UN’s official records)

Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights

Fifty-third session, Agenda item 6

August, 2001

International Education Development has followed the topic of terrorism and human rights for many years and we welcomed the appointment of the Sub-Commission's Special Rapporteur Mme. Koufa in 1996. ... We strongly agree with the Special Rapporteur that State terrorism in the form of government terror against its own people -- what she calls "terrorism from above" -- produces far more gross violations of human rights than any other form of terrorism. ...When a regime resorts to State terrorism, the international community can expect to be overwhelmed with cases under the international mechanisms and swamped with persons seeking asylum from that regime. Such is the case in China with the regime's violent assault on practitioners of Falun Gong.

In our statement under item 3 we described the Falun Gong Practice as we have found it to be. The government, in exercise of the right to reply, attempted to justify its State terrorism against the group by calling it an “evil cult" that has caused deaths and the break-up of families. In our investigation, the only deaths have been at the hands of the Chinese authorities; families have been broken up because family members have been killed by the regime; people have been broken down, not by Falun Gong, but by extreme torture, incarceration in mental hospitals with brutal treatment, hard labour in labour camps and other such practices. As was reported in the International Herald Tribune on August 6, 2001, the regime admits that it has officially sanctioned violence against practitioners in order to wipe out Falun Gong. The regime points to a supposed self-immolation incident in Tiananmen Square on January 23, 2001 as proof that Falun Gong is an "evil cult”. However, we have obtained a video of that incident that in our view proves that this event was staged by the government. We have copies of that video available for distribution.

In his most recent report (U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2001/66), the Commission's Special Rapporteur on Torture attests to tens of thousands detained and tortured practitioners. (Paras. 246-290). The Commission's Special Rapporteurs on Violence against Women and Extrajudicial Executions also attest to these abuses, with similar indications as to numbers. (E/CN.4/2001/73/Add.1, para. 19; E/CN.4/2001/[ ]). We are compiling evidence indicating that at least 50,000 Falun Gong practitioners are detained in prisons, labour camps or mental hospitals, of which thousands are beaten and many tortured to death. Hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of practitioners are severely threatened. The UN mechanisms clearly cannot handle this volume of verified cases, nor can the international community easily cope with perhaps millions of asylum seekers -- all of whom would clearly meet asylum criteria. Accordingly, the international community as a whole and the Sub-Commission in particular should address this situation of State terrorism as one of extreme urgency. [...] The end.

*International Education Development is a California-based human rights organization.

Vancouver 24-hour Falun Gong protest site still going

Update: As Canada and particularly BC is making every effort to boost their tourism industry, the approved destination status (ADS) is still hanging in the balance. A recent report in the Globe and Mail suggests that the Chinese are big spenders while the (HK) Economist affirms that they're not. Wouldn’t it be a shame to sacrifice our free speech for a few more tourist dollars. Could it be what is behind Mayor Sullivan’s reaction to see the Falun Gong in court over their peaceful protest site in front of the Chinese Consulate. Here’s a report from Joan Delaney.

Epoch Times: Vancouver’s Bid to Stifle Protest Raises Questions;Mayor mixing business with bylaw enforcement, group says
By Joan Delaney Epoch Times Victoria Staff

17 - 23 August 22006 - The City of Vancouver filed a petition Friday seeking a court order to remove the Falun Gong protest display from in front of the Chinese Consulate on Granville St. The city says structures comprising the display—posters erected on the consulate fence and a meditation hut by the sidewalk—contravene a city bylaw.

Deputy City Engineer Peter Judd said that when the protest first started, city officials assumed that it would peter out eventually like most other protests tend to do.

“We don’t want to be heavy-handed in these situations, but here we are five years later and it’s very clear they’re not going anywhere, so it’s time to take the structures down and move on.”

Since August 2001, Falun Gong practitioners have maintained a 24/7 vigil outside the consulate to raise awareness about what they say is a genocide against the group in China. The “blue wall” along the consulate fence consists of posters calling for an end to the persecution, depictions of torture methods used in China’s labour camps and pictures of slain practitioners.

Judd says it’s irrelevant that the structures are not blocking the sidewalk; the group doesn’t have written permission and the display is “not attractive, it’s not the kind of public realm people want.” Mayor Sam Sullivan said in June that the site violated a city bylaw and should be removed.

Motive in Question

But Sue Zhang of the Falun Dafa Association of Canada (FDAC) says the group was initially given verbal approval for the display which was acceptable to the city at the time. She says the real reason has more to do with economic interest and pressure from the consulate than with the violation of a bylaw, as it was soon after B.C. signed a trade agreement with China in May that Mayor Sullivan first announced the appeal site had to go.

“We believe this is no longer an issue of non-compliance with a bylaw,” says Zhang. “Rather, we believe that the law has been misused in an attempt to silence righteousness and justice. We sincerely ask that Mayor Sullivan withdraw the petition without delay.”

A May 24 Canadian Press report stated, “The agreement has been signed with Invest Beijing, which has close ties to the mayor’s office as well as regional governments.”

The Falun Dafa Association of Canada says that many cities in Canada and around the world with similar displays outside consulates and embassies have had pressure from Chinese authorities. The cities of Toronto and Ottawa have both been asked to remove the protest sites, which FDAC believes are an embarrassment to Beijing.

When the City of Ottawa Transportation Committee received a request from officials at the Chinese Embassy to remove the protest site across from the embassy in 2002, the committee stood its ground and allowed the display to remain.

“I took it as a question of free speech that since they were not being disruptive, threatening, or causing a safety concern we ought not to shut it down,” says Ottawa City Councillor Jacques Legendre. “In fact, the committee felt that way as well, and we refused to acquiesce to the embassy’s request.”

Legendre says there needs to be a “public policy, a rationale, for banning such things,” and in this case there wasn’t any because the practitioners are “most respectful” and the site doesn’t create a safety hazard.

“The perception of this ongoing demonstration or presence is one that has been very passive, extremely so,” says Legendre. “It’s atypical of demonstrations in Ottawa to be so tranquil.”

Atrocities Persist

Vancouver practitioners say their site bears witness to the thousands who have been tortured and murdered since the persecution began. The group has vowed to continue the vigil until the persecution comes to an end. A meditation practice that swept China in the nineties, the communist regime outlawed Falun Gong in 1999, concerned that it had grown too popular and was a threat to the atheistic ideology of the state. At around 70 million, Falun Gong had more practitioners at the time than there were members in the communist party.

FDAC spokesperson Sophia Bronwen worries that China will use this action by the city in its comprehensive defamation campaign against Falun Gong, and will tout the removal of the display as tacit support for the persecution.

“This act is not neutral; on the contrary, it could be harmful to the practitioners who are suffering so severely in China. By taking the site away the mayor is reducing our voice, he’s saying it’s not important.”

Bronwen says she’s surprised that a report by David Matas and David Kilgour confirming the widespread harvesting of the organs of Falun Gong practitioners in China “didn’t awaken Mayor Sullivan’s conscience.”

The report found that in the seven years since China outlawed Falun Gong and began imprisoning thousands of its adherents, a steep rise occurred in the number of organ transplants performed in that country. In all, there were 41,500 transplants that couldn’t be accounted for; Kilgour and Matas believe incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners were killed to supply the organs for those tranasplants.

Toronto practitioner Joel Chipkar says he feels for those living in Vancouver who have been tortured in the persecution, some of whom have family members in labour camps and brainwashing centres. He says if the display is removed, they will lose an important venue to raise awareness about the “ongoing atrocities” in China.

“I would say to Mayor Sullivan and the City of Vancouver that our family and friends are being slaughtered,” says Chipkar. “If something like this was happening to you, or if your family members were being tortured and murdered, we would never tell you that five years of protest is enough, and now you have to move on.”

Mansour Sedighi, who volunteers an overnight shift once a week at the round-the-clock protest, says Falun Gong doesn’t want to fight with the city over the bylaw, as the practice “teaches respect for all the laws in society.” But he believes Mayor Sullivan should look at this as an opportunity to support the group and be a “strong voice for human rights, something Canadian people value.”

“He should be proud that there are people who will stand up for justice, stand up for human morality and stand up for stopping such a brutal and unjust persecution in a peaceful and safe manner,” says Sedighi.

Related Articles:

The Province: Protest site must go, city tells court

Globe and Mail: Falun Gong protesters oppose injunction; Group says bylaw shouldn't apply to them

Vancouver Sun: Falun Gong denounces mayor; City hall wants to force the group to dismantle protest site outside Chinese consulate

24 Hours Vancouver: Sullivan still plans to oust protesters

CBC: Falun Gong protests city's bid to remove wall

24 Hours: Falun Gong to maintain ongoing vigil

Don’t be Evil

Chinese Consulate Protest Display Must Go, Says Vancouver Mayor

Crackdown on Chinese lawyers

China’s most prominent rights lawyer and rights defender, Gao Zhisheng, has been arrested by the CCP a few days ago. Known as the Martin Luther King of China, Gao had been campaigning for blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng who is being punished for exposing forced abortions. Attorneys Li Fangping, Xu Zhiyong representing Chen were also detained. One can only wonder what the dictators are up to.

Since the release of Jiang’s latest book the Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao has called a campaign urging the populace to basically memorize the book. Because of this, I have a strong feeling that Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, who have clearly been opponents up to this point, have joined forces—Gao’s arrest, once protected under Hu’s faction, would inevitably confirm this theory. If this is so, this is a bad move for Hu Jintao who will likely be made accountable for carrying Jiang’s genocidal campaigns namely the persecution of Falun Gong. Considering that over 12 million Chinese have quit the party, the Jiang-Hu union is obviously a desperate attempt to save the Party (CCP). As usual “They are attacking the leading symbol of the movement to scare everyone else." (NY Times)

Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics all eyes focus on China as rights groups demand Gao’s release.

The burning question is: will there be an explosive reaction to Gao’s arrest? It wouldn’t be surprising as tension has been building up for quite sometime. An interview with Gao back in May affirms: "I am not exaggerating. The overall resentment of the Chinese public, including that of officials, workers, protestors, and even the military, has increased to a critical level sufficient to launch a revolution." As a farmer in Shanxi Province once said, "We have all the elements necessary for a revolution. The Chinese government tries it's best to conceal this fact, but in reality, the intense resentments continue to grow."

Mr. Gao added, "In my opinion, the crux of China's problems is the evil system currently maintained by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Once the CCP collapses, this system will naturally disintegrate. However, many people still hold unrealistic perceptions of the CCP. How can we help these people eliminate such false hopes or improve their understandings? The Nine Commentaries provides a good means for people to see the CCP for what it is. I believe that spreading The Nine Commentaries is presently the most peaceful and effective way of reforming China. In fact, as you have all seen, The Nine Commentaries' effect on China is already in progress. The number of people withdrawing from the CCP every day continues to break previous records."

Guo Feixiong said: "Therefore, I suggest that various international and domestic strengths need to be firm and unyielding in rescuing Gao Zhisheng. We are not rescuing one person, but China's entire morale and the human spirit. What we are helping is China's entire democratic movement and the human rights movement. Not only does it have an individual characteristic, but it also has a comprehensive overall significance."

Meanwhile Jiang is making his presence felt as he secures his re-entry into the politburo. The crackdown on rights lawyers speaks for itself and is unmistakably the work of Jiang Zemin.

BTW, for those of you who can't get enough of Jiang Zemin, go here to read The Real Story of Jiang Zemin. Another 'must read'!

Taipei Times: Letter: Hu is China's new desperado

Monday, Aug 21, 2006,Page 8 - While China is enjoying an economic boom, it is also faced with a great deal of depressing news. In fact, its dictators are exasperated because more than 12 million people have quit the Chinese Communist Party since the launch of the "Nine Commentaries" on the party. Hundreds of thousands of angry peasants have rioted on the streets and we have seen the shocking exposure of large-scale organ harvesting targeting Falun Gong practitioners.

Among the chaos, there is suddenly a new campaign to reinforce the party. Chinese President Hu Jintao's slogan for the campaign is a call to memorize Jiang Zemin's new book ("Jiang's book hits the `must read' list" Aug. 17, page 4).

I call it desperation. It is pretty safe to assume that this euphoria is not shared by everyone. In the West, Jiang will always be remembered as the butcher from Beijing who cleverly orchestrated the Tiananmen Square Massacre just to get ahead. He also began the persecution of the Falun Gong to gain more power.

His hands are stained with the blood of countless innocent people. He has put humanity to shame--why revere him?

Related Articles:

Human Rights Watch

Gao Zhisheng Missing For Three Days, Beijing Admits Arrest

VP of European Parliament Concerned for China's Human Rights Lawyers

Taipei Times: China’s system likely to implode Guardian UK: Rights activist's lawyers detained as trial opens

Kyodo News: Chinese academics demand release of renowned lawyer

News24, South Africa: One-child activist on trial

Olympic boycott call over organ claims

Update: Former MP David Kilgour and Edward McMillan-Scott, VP of the European Parliament, were both visiting Australia this week to bring awareness to a Report on allegations of organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China and targeting the Falun Gong. Under these circumstances, both of them have called for a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Foreign Affairs even went as far as asking the Chinese embassy to allow an investigation on organ harvesting in China. They have not been turned down yet. Investigators including the UN are anxious to dig deeper into this affair but there is not much time left as the Falun Gong are being killed like flies by the CCP, who are on a mission to wipe them out the face of the earth before the Games. Tension is high in Beijing over this report exposing evidence that amounts to genocide. It is clear that extra forces are deployed to counteract and discredit the report. For example, an extensive anti-report propaganda campaign orchestrated by the CCP pre-empted a Forum in Sydney focusing on the Kilgour-Matas report. And in Canada all Members of Parliament have received the July 26 Statement from the Chinese Embassy criticizing the report and attacking Falun Gong while practitioners are currently touring the country and meeting with these VIPs across Canada. Nevertheless, they are willing to listen to what resembles a horror show straight out of Hollywood, but sadly enough it is called reality in China.
Read an article from the Australian on that topic at the end and see other great reports from the Age, ABC and SMH.

The Age: August 16, 2006 – A high-level European official says there's clear evidence China is harvesting the organs of dissidents and has urged Australia to boycott the Beijing Olympics unless China ends what amounts to genocide.

EU parliament vice president Edward McMillan-Scott and former Canadian minister David Kilgour, who are in Australia, claim China is killing thousands of members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

Falun Gong was banned by the Chinese government in 1999 and members claim they have been persecuted by Beijing.

A report by the men says there is clear evidence that organs have been taken from thousands of Falun Gong members detained in Chinese jails.

It details how organs and tissue are harvested and sold, in a form of state-sanctioned murder.

"I regret to say I am convinced this is a widespread practice in China," Mr McMillan-Scott said on Wednesday.

"This amounts in my view to genocide."

Chinese woman Hong Chen told how she had been persecuted for her involvement with Falun Gong.

Through a translator, Ms Chen said she had been held in a detention camp in northwest China.

"We were forced to work 15 to 20 hours a day, very harsh, physical work," she said.

Ms Chen spoke of a woman who was transferred to her camp and showed signs of torture.

"The middle of both of her hands were marked with black - burn marks ... the reason was electric shock treatment to her hands and feet," she said.

The report estimates there were 41,500 involuntary organ transplants in China in the six year period between 2000 and 2005.

The men are in Australia as part of a world "awareness" tour, saying they want countries to use the 2008 Beijing Olympics as leverage to force China to stop the killing.

"If it doesn't stop very, very quickly I would hope a lot of countries, including Australia, would call for a boycott of the Olympic Games in Beijing," Mr Kilgour said.

"We conclude this is going on on a large scale - it's got to stop.

"The window of opportunity is the Olympic Games."

The government appeared reluctant to acknowledge the senior politicians on their visit to Canberra on Wednesday.

Falun Gong claims Foreign Minister Alexander Downer refused to meet the two men.

Mr Downer was unavailable for comment.

In parliament, Speaker David Hawker also refused to recognise the dignitaries despite their presence being called to his attention.

The Australian (Australia): MPs 'heavied' by China Rick Wallace

August 17, 2006 Thursday - CHINA has been accused of strong-arming Australian MPs into ignoring ''ghastly'' allegations that Falun Gong prisoners are slaughtered for their organs.

China's consul-general in Melbourne, Liang Shugen, has written to almost all Victorian MPs scorning a meeting called by Liberal backbencher Victor Perton on the claims. Mr Perton accused the diplomat of ''outrageous interference'' in pressuring MPs to not attend the meeting, which will hear from a former Canadian MP who produced a report on the allegations.

The report, by David Kilgour and Canadian immigration lawyer David Matas, accuses China of killing Falun Gong prisoners and selling hearts, kidneys, livers and corneas to foreigners.

Joan's letter was published in the Ottawa Citizen:

Boycott might work

Re: Games boycott won't force China to reform, Aug. 25 by Joan Quain

August 29, 2006 The idea of the boycott is not to impose "western standards" on China, but to force Beijing to halt the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and the illegal harvesting of their organs. If that happens, it's highly likely the Christians, Tibetans, Uighers and others who are being persecuted in China will benefit as well.

It's a travesty that China, with its abysmal human rights record, was given the honour of hosting the Olympics in the first place. Beijing craves legitimacy almost as much as it craves power, which is saying a lot, so a boycott or a threat to relocate the Games to another more deserving country might just prompt them to improve. If the Olympics can be used as leverage to force this brutal dictatorship to stop torturing and killing large numbers of its own citizens, let's give it all we've got.

Related Articles and links to this post: here and here

National Post: China's bloody harvest

SMH: Call to UN to probe Falun Gong genocide claims

ABC (Au) Canadian activist defends claims of killings in China

ABC (Au): Activists accuse China of killing Falun Gong members for organs

Olympic Boycott Needed to Stop Organ Crimes, Says Rabbi

Take your Olympic torch and snuff it