News about Falun Dafa and the human rights crises in China

Article overview

December2013

Amidst labour camp closures, Chinese regime launches renewed campaign of brainwashing, abuse

NEW YORK -- Western media reports over the last several days have largely characterised the Communist Party's decision to close the widely-scorned Re-education Through Labour (RTL) system as progress in the area of human rights. However, a new campaign, which aims to brainwash millions of Falun Gong practitioners across China – through psychological and physical torture – demonstrates Beijing's mechanisms of suppression remain as functional and utilised as ever. READ MORE

30-12-2013 Psychiatric torture

Jilin prison described by inmates as 'hell on earth'

(Minghui.org) For the past 14 years, the Chinese Communist Party has been brutally persecuting the peaceful cultivation practice of Falun Dafa (Falun Gong). Hundreds of thousands of Dafa practitioners have been imprisoned, sent to forced labour camps and brainwashing centres, and nearly 4,000 are known to have been killed by torture or abuse – though due to the information blockade in China, the actual number is likely much higher. READ MORE

15-12-2013 Sexual assault
November2013

United Nations: raising awareness of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners' children

(Minghui.org) On September 26th and 27th, the Committee on the Rights of the Child of the United Nations reviewed the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in China. Several organisations submitted reports detailing the human right violations with regard to Chinese children. The Chinese government signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1997. However, the rights of children in China have not been well protected. The problems include child labour, sexual harassment, and rape of children by government officials and schoolteachers and children being kidnapped. READ MORE

22-11-2013 Family and children
October2013

A petition against organ harvesting in China reaches a milestone

By Matthew Robertson, Epoch Times.

With the People’s Republic of China making a bid to sit on the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, here’s a petition that should cause every diplomat in the world to sit up and take notice: organised by Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, a medical advocacy group, it calls on the the UN to demand that the PRC fully cease organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience. READ MORE

26-10-2013 Organ harvesting

Forced labour camp system still active – sentences served 'outside' and monitored by telephone

(Minghui.org) The Chinese forced labour camp system has not really shut down. Although many of the former forced labour camps have released their prisoners and many others have changed their signs to read “Drug Rehabilitation Centre”, the labour system is operating in another form. Sentences are being served outside of the camps, and people are being monitored by telephone. READ MORE

25-10-2013 Forced labour

My brother was tortured to death within ten days at Gangbei Prison

(Minghui.org) After being held in prison for 11 years, I was released on medical parole on April 26th, 2013, because of ill health.

On arriving home, I was told that my younger brother, Mr Li Xiwang, died ten days after he was taken to Gangbei Prison. I had to find out how he died.

According to my sister, our brother was in good health when she last saw him, which was before he was taken to Gangbei Prison. He died ten days after arriving there. READ MORE

23-10-2013 Witness accounts

Former deputy party secretary Mr Zhang Qingchao died after suffering years of persecution

Mr Zhang Qingchao was the deputy Party secretary of Huaiqiao Township, Quzhou County, Hebei Province when the Chinese Communist regime launched the persecution of Falun Dafa on July 20th, 1999. He was deposed for telling others the facts of Falun Dafa and the persecution. For the past twelve years, he had been incarcerated twice at the Handan Forced Labour Camp. The township did not let him return to work after his last release. Under the pain and pressure the persecution continued to cause him, Mr Zhang's health deteriorated and he passed away on March 7th, 2012. READ MORE

20-10-2013 Deaths
September2013

Appeals court overturns lower court decision but gives Falun Gong practitioner same 3-year sentence anyway

(Minghui.org) The Hengyang City Intermediate Court recently ruled on the appeal of Ms Xiong Qiuling, a Falun Gong practitioner illegally sentenced to three years in prison. Hengyang City is located in China's Hunan Province. The intermediate court dismissed a lower court’s charges against her, but instead, charged her with a different crime: “harbouring criminals”. This was done to retain the original sentence of three years in prison. READ MORE

22-09-2013 Forced labour

Court threatens family for hiring defence lawyer

(Minghui.org) On July 2nd, 2013, the Guangan City Intermediate People's Court of Sichuan brought Mr Zou Yunzhu to a public trial. Mr Zou, who practises Falun Gong, was being tried for giving people informational materials about Falun Gong. His lawyer entered a not guilty plea and showed how practicing Falun Gong is neither illegal nor criminal, and requested Mr Zou's immediate release. The court, however, was hastily adjourned, and Mr Zou's family was harassed and threatened by the authorities for the simple reason that they hired the lawyer. READ MORE

01-09-2013 Law violations
August2013

14 years of persecution and resilience

Falun Gong is the spiritual discipline whose practitioners follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. Today, millions of people in over 60 countries around the world enjoy the peaceful practice of Falun Gong and live their lives according to its virtuous teachings.

Falun Gong is also known worldwide as defenders for freedom of belief for millions of people inside China.

July 20th marks the 14th anniversary of the illegal persecution against Falun Gong in China. READ MORE

16-08-2013 Falun Gong activities
Jule2013

Imprisoned teacher tells his wife: 'every time we meet could be our last farewell'

(Minghui.org) Mr Bian Lichao was a highly regarded teacher at Kailuan 10th Middle School in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. He was sentenced to 12 years in 2012 and detained in Shijiazhuang Prison. After three months, he was pale and emaciated, his cheeks sunken, and his eyes deep-set. He also had symptoms of high-blood pressure and a heart attack. On the afternoon of April 22nd, 2013, when his wife visited him in prison, the first thing he said to her was, “Xiuzhen, every time we meet could be our farewell.” READ MORE

03-07-2013 Physical torture
June2013

Signature drives for Falun Gong continue, despite dangers

NEW YORK – Five new petitions for individual Falun Gong practitioners – some with over 10,000 signatures – have been reported over the past two months, continuing a growing trend across China. While some of the petitions are new initiatives – including ones in Hubei and Hebei Provinces – others are ongoing efforts to rescue local residents who practise Falun Gong, despite official repression. READ MORE

17-06-2013 Personal support
May2013

A military officer describes his years of persecution under the CCP (Part 1)

(Minghui.org) Yang Xingfu, a deputy division-level military officer in the Nanjing Military Region, was persecuted repeatedly for remaining steadfast in his belief in Falun Dafa. Recently he was sentenced to three years of forced labour by the Nanjing Military Court and incarcerated at Nanjing Region Forced Labour Camp. His story was reported on June 6th, 2012, on the Minghui website. Below, in his own words, are details of the persecution Yang Xingfu has endured. READ MORE

25-05-2013 Witness accounts

Seven professionals arrested in Wuhan, four still detained

(Minghui.org) Following mass arrests of Falun Gong practitioners in Wuhan during April and May 2011, the Wuhan 6-10 Office recently initiated another “top priority effort” and has arrested seven more Falun Gong practitioners, most of whom are intellectuals.

The practitioners were arrested for using the Internet “in an organised manner” to send publications overseas, thus allegedly committing the crime of leaking national secrets in an attempt to subvert the Chinese government. READ MORE

25-05-2013 Work and school
April2013

Witness: working conditions in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

(Minghui.org) I was detained in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp twice for a total of two years. Masanjia Forced Labour Camp is located in Liaoning Province and is also called Masanjia Correctional Institution First Section. It is a living hell and notorious for persecuting male Falun Gong practitioners. There are three so-called “teams”, and the third team is where all Falun Gong practitioners are detained. The work that the three teams do used to be different, but by 2012, all were making clothes. The labour camp has made enormous amounts of money from forcing practitioners to do slave labour. READ MORE

12-04-2013 Witness accounts

The difficulty of smuggling a slip of paper from a Chinese labour camp

Editor’s note: Guo Jufeng, the author, was an engineer in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, who fled to Germany in 2008 after being persecuted for his practice of Falun Gong. Before leaving China, he had been arrested four times, sent to three labour camps, and persecuted using over 30 different methods of mental and physical torture. Twelve Falun Gong practitioners he personally knew died from torture: seven of those were from Dalian; five had children under the age of 18. READ MORE

01-04-2013 Witness accounts
February2013

Four teachers in Beijing sentenced to forced labour over 18th Party Congress 'security concerns'

(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioner Mr Yan Dong, a lecturer at Beijing Industry University, was illegally arrested in class in front of his students on November 5th, 2012. He was sentenced to two years of forced labour. Mr Yan is the fourth teacher to have been sentenced to forced labour in Beijing under the pretext of “security” related to the 18th Party Congress. READ MORE

09-02-2013 Work and school
January2013