Amnesty International Issues Urgent Action for Abducted Falun Gong Practitioners

Villagers Threatened as Petition Circulates Among Politburo Standing Committee Members

NEW YORK -- Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action for Falun Gong practitioners at risk of torture as an entire village is threatened and coerced to retract a petition calling for their release.

"Falun Gong practitioners Wang Xiaodong and his sister Wang Junling have been detained, and are at risk of torture and other ill-treatment," the Urgent Action says. "They are prisoners of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and association."(read Amnesty press release / PDF)

In early May, Ms. Wang had circulated a petition in Zhouguantun Village, Botou City, Hebei Province calling for the immediate release of her brother who had been abducted by Chinese authorities on February 25, 2012. Mr. Wang was detained and held because of his practice of Falun Gong. Nearly every household in the village, 300 in all, signed their real names to the petition, and it was stamped as authentic by members of the village committee -- an unprecedented act of defiance of the Chinese Communist Party's 13-year campaign to stamp out Falun Gong.

A well placed source told The Epoch Times newspaper that officials at the highest level, including members of the Politburo Standing Committee, had seen the petition and were debating its significance, with some officials urging that the Falun Gong persecution be peacefully resolved. (news)

"We urge all members of the international community to join Amnesty's call, and demand China free these Falun Gong practitioners," says Falun Dafa Information Center executive director, Levi Browde. "This is a pivotal event in which the deeply held beliefs of so many Chinese throughout the country are revealed in the peaceful and principled appeal of these villagers. They will not stand by anymore and watch the regime brutally suppress innocent Falun Gong practitioners, and nor should we."

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’ 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 3,000 deaths and over 63,000 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. 

More: Falun Dafa Information Center