Excerpt from Epoch Times: The resolution said that many were sentenced to such camps after a "minor infraction or misdemeanour", while others were sentenced without any legal process, including "Tibetans, Mongolians and Uighurs, and religious minorities, especially Falun Gong followers."...The resolution also draws attention to organ harvesting allegations addressed in a joint report by former Canadian Secretary of State David Kilgour, and international human rights lawyer David Matas.
"An especially shocking outgrowth of this system bothered our minds over and over again during the past months – namely the thriving organ harvesting," said Steinbach, during the debate. (more)
(Clearwisdom.net) May 13, 2007 Greetings from the Prime Minister On the occasion of Falun Dafa Week, I am happy to extend my best wishes to the many Falun Gong practitioners who live and work in Canada and who contribute to our national diversity. The tolerance which characterizes our cultural traditions, coupled with the enduring commitment of our people, has resulted in a quality of life which is admired internationally for its richness and diversity. As Canadian citizens, we are grateful for Canada's shared values of openness and tolerance and the freedom of conscience and religion. All Canadians, including Falun Gong practitioners, should remember to never take these values or rights for granted. I commend Canada's Falun Gong community for its commitment to our nation's shared values and I wish you a happy, safe and prosperous year. Sincerely, The Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada
(Clearwisdom.net) According to a Sound of Hope radio station report on May 9, 2007, the 2007 UN report recently released includes the latest report by UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak. He summarized particular cases in his report. In addition to cases related to Falun Gong, he also listed cases about Gao Zhisheng and organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners. The following is the portion in his report on the CCP harvesting organs from live Falun Gong practitioners.
It is reported that organ harvesting has been inflicted on a large number of unwilling Falun Gong practitioners at a wide variety of locations, for the purpose of making available organs for transplant operations. Vital organs including hearts, kidneys, livers and corneas were systematically harvested from Falun Gong practitioners at Sujiatun Hospital, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, beginning in 2001.
The practitioners were given injections to induce heart failure, and therefore were killed in the course of the organ harvesting operations or immediately thereafter.
It is reported that employees of the following transplant centers have indicated that they have used organs from live Falun Gong practitioners: Zhongshan Hospital Organ Transplant Clinic in Shanghai, Qianfoshan City Liver Transplant Hospital in Shandong, Nanning City Minzu Hospital in Guangxi Autonomous Region, Jiaotong University Liver Transplant Center in Shanghai, Zhengzhou Medical University Organ Transplant Center in Tianjin City, Tongji Hospital in Wuhan in Hunan and General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Regional in Guangdong.
It is reported that employees from the following detention facilities have indicated that organs from Falun Gong detainees have been used for transplants: Mishan Detention Center in Heilongjiang Province, First Detention Center of Qinhuangdao City in Hebei.
After the organs were removed, the bodies were cremated, and no corpses remain to examine for identification as the source of an organ transplant. Once the organs were removed they were shipped to transplant centers to be used for transplants for both domestic and foreign patients.
Officials from the following detention facilities have indicated that courts have been involved in administering the use of organs from Falun Gong detainees, namely: Qinhuangdao Intermediate People's Court in Hebei Province, First Criminal Bureau of the Jinzhou Intermediate People's Court and Kunming Higher People's Court.
It is reported that there are many more organ transplants than identifiable sources of organs, even taking into account figures for identifiable sources, namely: estimates of executed prisoners annually, of which a high percentage of organs are donated; willing donor family members, who for cultural reasons, are often reluctant to donate their organs after death; and brain-dead donors.
Moreover, the reportedly short waiting times that have been advertised for perfectly-matched organs would suggest the existence of a computerized matching system for transplants and a large band of live prospective donors. It is alleged that the discrepancy between available organs and numbers from identifiable sources is explained by organs harvested from Falun Gong practitioners, and that the rise in transplants from 2000 coincides and correlates with the beginning of the persecution of these persons.
Contrary to the [CCP]Government assertion that human organs have been prohibited from sale, in accordance with the 1991 WHO guiding principles, it has been reported that up to this time Chinese law has allowed the buying and selling of organs; has not required that donors give written permission for their organs to be transplanted; there has been no restriction on the institutions which could engage in organ harvesting or transplants; there was no requirement that the institutions engaged in transplants had to verify that the organs being transplanted were from legal sources; and there was no obligation to have transplant ethics committees approve all transplants in advance. Moreover, evidence exists, for example, that at least up until April 2006 price lists for organ transplants in China were published on the Internet.
"The Falun Gong feel compelled to respond to some misleading media reports about the recent ruling of the British Columbia Court of Appeal. Contrary to some media reports it is simply not true that the Court of Appeal has determined, in any final way, that the Falun Gong will not be entitled to a trial to defend their right to maintain their vigil in front of the Chinese Consulate.
The holding of the Court of Appeal is quite narrow and involved a quite technical point of legal procedure. It does not preclude our practitioners from still seeking to have a full trial instead of the summary-type process the City wishes to use to remove our vigil. The Court of Appeal essentially agreed with the lower court that our attempt to seek a trial now was premature and said this is a question we have to take up with the trial court after we have filed our formal Response (or pleadings) and affidavits that demonstrate that a trial is appropriate. Likewise the Court recognized that other avenues may be open to us short of full trial.
Our lawyers are considering all of our options. What is certain is that our practitioners are not going to relinquish their vigil - now in its 2091th day – instead, we remain very confident that no court truly upholding justice will order us to leave. Our vigil is not just about our constitutional freedom to express ourselves but to try to stop the killing and torture that Falun Gong practitioners have experienced and continue to experience at the hands of the Chinese Regime.
| An excellent piece by Joan Delaney and Jason Loftus. Will somebody show the door to Michael Huang please? |
Epoch Times: TORONTO - May 10, 2007 —In the so-called "slush fund" controversy that has engrossed Ontario's provincial parliament for much of the last three weeks, Michael Huang has emerged a central figure.
A policy advisor in the office of Mike Colle, the provincial citizenship and immigration minister, Huang came under the spotlight last week with the news that the organization he recently directed, the Chinese Professionals Association of Canada (CPAC), received $250,000 in March from the ministry office where he worked.
The money was part of $32 million dished out by the Ontario Liberal government for services targeting new immigrants. But critics have called the money a pre-election "slush fund," arguing that no formal application process was established, the grant opportunities were not advertised, and that some of the money went to groups with known Liberal ties, like CPAC.
Amid calls from opposition parties this week for Colle to resign and call in the auditor general, Colle's spokesperson Rick Byan told The Epoch Times that there was no conflict of interest in the grant and that the "relationship with CPAC was well established before Michael came on board."
Either way, the story on Huang and CPAC does not end there.
While both the minister's office and CPAC have taken pains to stress the organization's role in supporting new immigrants from China, CPAC and its executives have also at times weighed heavily into political issues not related to Chinese professionals, often echoing the stance of the Chinese consulate in Toronto and its communist bosses in Beijing.
A source well-connected in Toronto's Chinese community who spoke on condition of anonymity described Huang as one of the Chinese consulate's "closest friends," and an organizer of "events and activities in which the consulate has an interest."
Case in point was a forum held in CPAC's Scarborough office on May 9, 2006 to rally support for nine Chinese state-run television stations' bid to enter Canada 's airwaves. Huang was listed as the event contact in a Chinese media report announcing the event.
The Chinese regime promoted the nine stations as a cultural and entertainment package, but religious minorities and dissident groups say they are communist propaganda networks that spread hatred against them.
Indeed, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission found that one of the networks had on multiple occasions broadcast abusive content that could incite hatred or even violence against certain groups in Canada.
But with the endorsement of groups like CPAC, the networks got away with a warning and are now airing on Rogers Cable. Huang was reportedly singled out for praise by then-Chinese Consul General Chen Xiaoling, who noted in particular Huang's success in rallying Chinese students to write letters to Canada's broadcasting watchdog, CRTC.
Apparently, the Chinese consulate has been turning to CPAC for support recently, where in the past it would turn to the National Congress of Chinese Canadians, a nationwide pro-Beijing association of Chinese-Canadians.
"The NCCC lost its credibility and lost face over the head tax issue," the source said, referring to efforts of the Chinese head tax payers to get an apology and compensation from the government for the discriminatory tax it charged to Chinese immigrants in the early 20th century.
NCCC brokered a deal in late 2005 with the then-Paul Martin Liberal government to forgo the apology and compensation in exchange for a $12.5 million educational grant that it would administer. But the Conservatives cancelled the deal and instead gave compensation to the taxpayers and spouses themselves, along with an apology.
During Chinese leader Hu Jintao's visit to Toronto in September 2005, Huang was also seen positioning pro-Communist Party supporters to block protesters. Media reported that he led the crowd to chant, "We love Hu Jintao dearly."
In 2004, Huang was also among a core group of Chinese consulate supporters who showed up at Toronto City Hall to protest a motion that was to recognize a "Falun Dafa Day" in the city. Falun Dafa, or Falun Gong, is a spiritual practice persecuted by the communist regime in China. Huang and the others sprang to action after the Chinese consulate sent a letter to councillors and the mayor urging them not to pass the motion.
In December 2006, Huang was chief organizer of a farewell dinner for outgoing Chinese Consul General Chen Xiaoling, an event that also celebrated the landing of the nine "Great Wall" stations.
But Huang was not alone within CPAC in his pro-communist stance. Other executives, including Thomas Qu, a long-time executive and former president who is still listed as an Executive Board member on CPAC's website, have well-known ties to the Chinese consulate.
Qu was one of only 28 overseas Chinese invited to the 10-day Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing in May 2005, a privilege reserved for only the most trusted Communist Party supporters.
The conference is tied to the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department, a Mao-era organization that CSIS describes as being at the heart of China's intelligence operations, and whose deceptive strategy is designed to win the support of non-Party "friends" and isolate and destroy "enemies."
Aside from the actions of individual executives, explicit pro-Beijing stances have also crept into CPAC's tabloid-sized periodical, New Horizon, produced for its members.
The August 5, 2005 edition of the newsletter carried an article on page 3 in support of statements made by a Chinese general who threatened to launch a nuclear attack on the U.S. if the U.S. came to Taiwan's defence in a cross-strait conflict.
"[General] Zhu Chenghu's theory of a nuclear war for the first time vividly describes how hundreds of cities east of Xian and in America could be destroyed," the article said.
"This can be seen as the nuclear ideal and goal of the Chinese people since China first developed nuclear technology. The nuclear force is the power of a state, and the power of a state cannot lack a goal."
According to the source familiar with the Chinese community, such views are not held by the majority of Chinese community members, or even by most members of CPAC.
She says "the Chinese consulate imposes its political line on the Chinese community," usually through a few influential leaders of an organization, who act under the banner of the entire membership.
Tony Ye agrees. A CPAC member since 2002, Ye says he joined because of the discount car insurance that CPAC offered. He suspects many other members joined for the same reason, paying only a one-time $100 fee.
"I've never visited the CPAC office or used their services since I registered," says Ye. "Sometimes they send me emails about activities, and one time they asked me to support the application for the 'Great Wall' television stations; I don't have any part in the political things they do."
Ye says he hadn't heard that CPAC received a $250,000 grant in March.
Others who identified themselves as CPAC members on a popular Chinese-language chat room, 51.ca, also said they had not heard of the new funding, and most expressed some suspicions about it.
"We are also counted as members of CPAC by just paying a one time membership fee," wrote one poster. "They used the name of our 20,000 people. To be honest, in these years, they did not give us many services."
"Please stop using 'Chinese people support …' 'Chinese people appeal …'" wrote another. "You [CPAC leaders] can only represent yourself or the few who protect your selfish interests."
Concerns over the Chinese regime's ability to influence Canadian society and policy were brought out last week when CSIS head Jim Judd named China as the country that spy-watchers in Canada put the most effort into monitoring.
In a departure from the policy of not naming the countries it investigates, Judd told a Senate committee on foreign espionage that of 15 countries that have spies operating on Canadian soil, almost half are working for the Chinese regime.
"China got special mention, which is very unusual and very unique to a certain extent," says former CSIS official and China expert Michel Juneau-Katsuya. "The threat as it comes from China is the efficiency and the size of their deployment. They're really good at it [spying], and it is driven by the central government."
According to Canadian Press, Judd explained in his testimony that the spying CSIS monitors includes efforts to collect public and private information, meddling in Canadian affairs, and stirring up trouble in ethnic communities.
The Chinese have been carrying out all three kinds, through the United Work Front Department. Juneau-Katsuya said he could not comment on what criteria CSIS uses to identify a United Work Front Department agent.
However, when provided the background on Huang's relationship with the Chinese consulate, a government source speaking with The Epoch Times on condition of anonymity said: "This would be a typical profile of an agent acting on behalf of the United Front."
Media Advisory
WINNIPEG - Leading human rights lawyer Mr. David Matas will represent Canadian torture survivor and Falun Gong practitioner Prof. Kunlun Zhang in appealing the judgment of Madam Justice Tremblay Lamer of the Federal Court who upheld the decision of the Acting Attorney General Anne McLellan not to allow Zhang to prosecute privately his torturers in China.
Time: 10:00 a.m. (CDT)
Date: Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Place: Federal Court of Canada, 4th floor, 363 Broadway, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Contact: David Matas (204) 944-1831, Maria Cheung (204) 294-9391
In March 2004, Prof. Zhang sought consent from the Attorney General for a private criminal prosecution against his torturers under the Criminal Code section 269.1. This request was refused in March 2005 by the former acting Attorney General the Hon Anne McLellan. A subsequent judicial review in February 2006 was dismissed by Madam Justice Tremblay Lamer of the Federal Court.
In China the judiciary is not able to provide legal redress to Falun Gong practitioners; instead it is an integral instrument in the campaign to eradicate Falun Gong. This case is significant in upholding fundamental justice, rejecting immunity from torture, and restraining future atrocities in the persecution of Falun Gong and other prisoners of conscience in China.
Background
Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that includes exercise and meditation. Its principles are based on Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance. Introduced to the public 1992, Falun Gong was welcomed in China and drew people from all walks of life. Jealous of it popularity, the Communist Regime started a brutal systematic campaign to eradicate the practice and persecute the practitioners in July 1999. By now, Falun Info Cente reported over three thousand innocent practitioners have been tortured to death.
Tuesday May 8, 2007 10:16 PM
The Guardian BEIJING (AP) - Beijing accused a U.S. advisory panel on Tuesday of taking ``potshots'' at China in a report that accuses the government of imprisoning and torturing people for practicing their religion.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said in its findings last week that every religious community in China continues to be subject to serious restrictions, state control, and repression.''
The report shows the panel's ignorance and prejudice regarding China. It skewed and attacked China's policy on religion and ethnic minorities,'' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement posted on the ministry's Web site.
``China expresses strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition,'' it said.
China is officially atheist. Christians, Buddhists, Taoists and Muslims are allowed to worship, but only in churches, temples or mosques run by state-monitored groups.
Christians who attend underground churches, as most do in China, are often jailed and harassed.
Abuses against prominent religious leaders and others include imprisonment, torture and other forms of ill treatment, the report said.
Jiang accused the committee of taking ``potshots at the religious situation in China and some other developing countries.''
The Chinese government targets Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, ``underground'' Roman Catholics, unregistered Protestants and spiritual groups such as the Falun Gong, said the panel, a 10-member commission that reports to the White House, the State Department and Congress.
``It is an obvious fact that the Chinese government protects the freedom of religious belief of its citizens and the Chinese citizens enjoy full religious freedom protected by law,'' she said.
The Guardian: The decision by the Archbishop of Canterbury to defend China in the face of accusations of human rights abuses is not only a travesty, but could result in further occurrences as a result of his words. Dr Rowan Williams' assertion that "there is not systematic persecution of Christians, apart from certain sects" tacitly permits the Chinese government to continue in their practices and attitudes towards organised religion. He acknowledged that human rights abuses could be arbitrary in the country, but insisted that it was not systematic.
The People's Republic of China has always had a strong stance against organised religion, and a history of discouraging such beliefs and practices. The Communist party has said that religion is incompatible with membership of the party. The state recognises five religions - Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism. Yet the government tries to control the practice of these religions and has outlawed any other type of religious or spiritual worship.
In 2005, the Chinese government set out a number of regulations that ostensibly allowed for greater freedom of religion. These regulations have been shown to be a sham, through both their wording and application.
The only Christian sects recognised by the Chinese government are Catholicism and Protestantism. The Catholic church has had an underground presence in China throughout the Communist rule, with prayers and teachings regularly interrupted by the police and members of the church kidnapped and detained. China and the Vatican had an informal dialogue during 2005 during which two new bishops were appointed. Simultaneously there were a number of underground Catholic clergy targeted and detained by the Chinese authorities. Large gatherings of Catholics continued to be disrupted by government officials and agents acting on its behalf, congregants were detained and other abuses occurred. In one headline-grabbing case, a number of nuns in Xi'an were severely beaten and injured while attempting to protect Catholic church buildings from demolition by the state.
In 2006, Protestant churches in Shanxi, Henan, Hubei and Jiangxi were targeted for authority crackdowns. Worshippers were detained or fined - some arrested - and reports of mistreatment of congregants were rife. Coordinating raids aimed at preventing growing membership in the Jilin province occurred in May 2005, with some 600 people remaining detained until large fines were paid on their behalf.
Cai Zhuohua, a Protestant minister, was detained alongside his colleagues for "illegal business practices". His crime was to have printed and distributed (for free) Christian literature, which angered the authorities who prefer to strictly regulate and control such activities.
Dr Rowan Williams' statement to Chatham House earlier this week was misguided, in the sense that it will be used by the Chinese authorities as another example of the west's tacit acceptance of the human rights abuses that regularly occur in the country. Organisations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and others have spent copious time and resources attempting to tackle the problems facing Chinese citizens. Yet their work is regularly undermined by the international community through events such as the award of the Olympic Games to Beijing, continued trade with Chinese companies known to abuse human rights and statements such as this one by the Archbishop of Canterbury. While China may have improved its tolerance of religious beliefs and practices to some degree, the assertion that systematic persecution no longer occurs there is nothing short of delusion.
The official line from the Chinese state is that religious freedom is respected, although it must be restricted to the five recognised religions and must be practised according to government guidelines. Yet there have been many reported instances of oppression and persecution of Christians across the country, let alone members of non-recognised religions such as Falun Gong. The longer that the world allows these abuses to occur, the more widespread and systematic they will become. Concerted action must be taken by the international community through trade, politics, sport and religion to exert pressure on China to comply with its human rights obligations. Until that time, China will continue persecuting and oppressing of its own citizens, in the knowledge that there will be no international repercussions.
Regarding Mirko Petricevic's May 4 article Cufucius Institute Offers Language, Cultural Studies, I am left a bit perplexed.
I seriously have to question why Confucius has suddenly become Communist China's new poster boy. Apparently, by 2010 there will be 500 Communist party culture schools in the world. Besides the Waterloo institute, there has been one in Vancouver since February 2005 and one more will open soon in Toronto. They are being set up in 36 countries, even in Rwanda.
One may only wonder what the Beijing elite is really up to, knowing full well that they don't cherish the Confucius teachings of virtue and free speech. Consul general Taoying Zhu said the Confucius Institute will be a tool for building friendships between China and Canada. That really has me worried.
Another major concern is this stipulation on the Hanban's websites stating: "Overseas Confucius Institutes must abide by the one-China policy." Unfortunately, Zhu's remarks are short of reassuring. How will we know if the textbooks are to be filled with anti-democracy, anti-Falun Gong material glorifying the party, complete with slogans of "Peaceful development road" and "Harmonious society"?
I don't mean to sound xenophobic but we should be on guard.
The Chinese recently announced they are going ahead with the revision of their history textbooks to reflect a flawless China, discarding historical facts harmful to the nation's image. Isn't China's genuflecting to Confucius just another tool to wield soft power abroad and spread the Communist values that are completely opposite of ours? It sure appears to be so.
The Chinese newspaper Nanfang Daily reported earlier that on Tuesday night television viewers complained about intercepted signals that carried antigovernment materials for about 30 to 40 seconds.
The Hunan satellite channel was automatically tuned to the Guangdong satellite channel and some viewers got blue or color-stripes while some saw antigovernment slogans and pictures, the report said.
The Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao Daily quoted a Guangdong police spokesman as saying they suspect Falun Gong was responsible for the trouble.
But Kan Hung-cheung, spokesman for Falun Gong's Hong Kong faction, denied the group was involved.
"In the past, Falun Gong has intercepted television channels in the mainland to expose how authorities persecuted our fellow practitioners," Kan told Kyodo News. "But posting antigovernment materials seems not to be our protocol. We support those who defect from the Communist Party and we want to break it up peacefully, but I am not sure if we were involved in the interception."
Along with a few other spiritual movements, it was branded an "evil cult" in 1999 after more than 10,000 practitioners staged a silent protest by surrounding Zhongnanhai, the heart of the Chinese government in Beijing.
According to Ming Pao, Beijing has blamed Falun Gong for intercepting television broadcasts in the past in a bid to promote the religion by interfering with satellite Sinosat-1, which provides local and overseas broadcasts for China.
National Post Full Comment by J. Turley-Ewart: The extent of China's spy network in Canada has attracted some attention recently following the director of CSIS, Canada's spy agency, admitting that China is "pretty much" at the top of the list of countries with foreign spies operating here.
Indeed, Jim Judd, CSIS's chief suggested that about 50% of CSIS's time is spent tracking China's operatives in our country. Much of that spying may well be aimed at stealing industrial secrets that, if successfully executed, undermines economic growth in Canada and costs our country both jobs and huge amounts of money. Such espionage deserves serious attention and is not what one expects from a friendly government.
Yet the threat from Chinese operatives in Canada goes beyond theft and has involved the spread of hate as well. Specifically, the Chinese are engaged in a pogrom-like action against Falun Gong practitioners in China and have promoted fear and hatred of Falun Gong here in Canada among the Chinese community.
The result can be seen when law-abiding Canadians who stroll into Chinese malls in Canada wearing Falun Gong T-Shirts are told to leave because of the shirts.
Freedom of speech is a right in Canada, but China's officials would prefer it was otherwise. Indeed they encourage Chinese-Canadians to shun and silence fellow Canadians who practice Falun Gong.
I wrote about this a few years ago.
Beijing's mandarins declared Falun Gong a "cult" in the 1990s and outlawed it in 1999. Since then China's government has been arresting and imprisoning Falun Gong practitioners and are accused of violating their human rights.
I recall some years ago the Chinese ambassador to Canada coming to the Post and distributing his government's anti-Falun Gong material to our editorial board with a gusto that was alarming.
Readers should keep in mind the Chinese spies are not just trying to undermine economic growth in Canada by stealing our industrial secrets, they are also engaged in a propaganda war against Canadians who practice Falun Gong, a war aimed at generating hate for those practitioners and ultimately diminishing their rights as Canadian citizens.
China made the list again this year for one of the 11 Countries of particular concern (CPC).The 2007 Annual Report (pdf) may be found on the The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)'s web site at www.uscirf.gov and may also be obtained by contacting the Commission's Communications Department at communications@uscirf.gov or (202) 523-3240, ext. 114.
The following is the text of the Commission's letter to Secretary Rice with 2007 CPC recommendations:
(Clearwisdom.net) Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on May 2, 2007, that the US Commission on International Religious Freedom released its 2007 Annual Report on May 2. The report takes the Chinese Communist Party regime as a government of "particularly severe violation of religious freedom," and re-designated China as a CPC (country of particular concern) in 2007.
The report said that the CCP regime continued suppressing the Falun Gong spiritual movement in the past year. "Beginning with the banning of Falun Gong in 1999, the Chinese government has conducted a violent campaign against [slanderous words omitted]. Tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been sent to labor camps without trial or sent to mental health institutions for reeducation. Falun Gong practitioners claim that nearly 6,000 practitioners have been sent to prisons [note: the number is much higher] and over 3,000 have died while in police custody. Some human rights researchers estimate that Falun Gong adherents comprise up to half of the 250,000 officially recorded inmates in reeducation through labor camps. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture reported that Falun Gong practitioners make up two-thirds of the alleged victims of torture. Given the lack of judicial transparency, the number and treatment of Falun Gong practitioners in confinement is different to confirm."
Commissioner of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom Ms. Prodromou said at the press conference that the CCP regime continued to "engage in systematic and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief" in the past year.
This year, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom designated China as a "country of particular concern," or CPC. Since 1999, the Commission has recommended that China be designated as a "country of particular concern," or CPC. The State Department has followed the Commission's recommendations and named China a CPC. The basis of their decision is that "Every religious community in China continues to be subject to serious restrictions, state control, and repression. The most severe religious freedom abuses are directed against Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, "underground" Roman Catholics, house church and unregistered Protestants, and spiritual groups such as the Falun Gong. These abuses involve imprisonment, torture, and other forms of ill treatment. Prominent religious leaders and others continue to be confined, imprisoned, tortured, "disappeared," and subjected to other forms of ill treatment on account of their religion or belief."
The Commission's report said that in recent years, the CCP regime has strengthened its strike on some independent religious organizations, and continued a campaign to root out what it has viewed as "foreign infiltration," a campaign that has, in some cases, targeted individuals and religious organizations that attempt to maintain affiliation with co-religionists abroad.
The report said that in the past year, the CCP regime began "a crackdown targeting human rights activists, lawyers and others who attempted to use the Chinese legal system to defend the rights of Chinese citizens, including those who sought to manifest their right to freedom of religion. For example, prominent civil rights attorney Gao Zhisheng was arrested on August 15, 2006 and held without charges for over a month. Gao was well known for his defense of religious leaders, his criticism of the crackdown on Falun Gong, and his outspoken open letters appealing to Chinese leaders to respect measures of their own law that protect human rights. On December 12, 2006, Gao Zhisheng, who had not been permitted to meet with his lawyer for the duration of his detention period, was tried in secret and forced to plead guilty on charges of incitement to subvert state power. His three-year sentence was eventually suspended and he was placed on probation for five years. During which time he will remain deprived of his political rights and under tight surveillance." Other human rights activists who have been subjected to harassment, imprisonment, interrogation and arrest included Guo Feixiong, Fan Yafeng, Teng Biao and Li Jingsong and others.
Fu Xiqiu, in charge of Christian China Aid Association headquartered in Midland in Texas, said that exchange activities between China's domestic religious people and religious organizations abroad were seriously interfered with in the past year. A well-known missionary from North America, a former Beijing University professor named Feng Bingcheng was arrested around April 25, 2006, when he gave sermon in Beijing, and subsequently deported.
Mr. Fu also said that there occurred violent incidents of destroying underground churches in Zhejiang and other places in the past year. On July 29, 2006, a relatively large church in Xiaoshan area was dismantled. Several thousand armed police, local police, people from judicial system and Bureau of Religious Affairs committed the violent act. More than 30 people were arrested, and some even had their ribs fractured. Six of them were sentenced to prisons, three of them are still serving the term, because they were in charge of the church.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent body that was set up according to the US 1998 International Religious Freedom Act. It aims to investigate the state of religious freedom in other countries, and make the best possible recommendations for improvement to the US President and the Congress.
