September 26, 2007: Falun Gong News Bulletin

Monitoring the Falun Gong Human Rights Crisis in China

US Department of State Releases 2007 Annual Religious Freedom Report Condemning CCP’s Repression of Falun Gong and Others
“Falun Gong practitioners continued to face arrest, detention, and imprisonment, and there were credible reports of deaths due to torture and abuse… Some foreign observers estimated that at least half of the 250,000 officially recorded inmates in the country’s reeducation-through-labor camps are Falun Gong adherents… In March 2006 U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak reported that Falun Gong practitioners accounted for 66 percent of victims of alleged torture while in government custody.”

Full Report: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90133.htm

Top Chinese Attorney Kidnapped Following Letter to U.S. Congress
Gao Zhisheng, one of China’s most prominent human rights lawyers, was seen being taken away by secret police from his Beijing home on Sunday according to eye-witnesses. Gao had broken China’s biggest taboo by publicly calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong.

The apparent kidnapping came less than 48 hours after Gao published an open letter to the United States Congress. The letter called on the U.S. to boycott the Olympics over the Communist Party’s ongoing campaign against the Falun Gong.

“The eight-year long suppression of Falun Gong is so far the most long-lasting and the most serious human disaster in China and in the world,” Gao, a Christian, wrote, adding that he has published the findings of his investigation of secret torture chambers (http://en.epochtimes.com/news/5-12-16/35876.html).

Full Story: /displayAnArticle.asp?ID=9502

Deaths of 11 Falun Gong Adherents Verified in August: 3,083 Deaths Confirmed
In the month of August, sources inside China confirmed eleven new reports of Falun Gong practitioners who died as a result of state sanctioned torture and abuse. The deaths occurred between March and August 2007. Since July 20, 1999, 3,083 deaths have been verified by reliable sources in China, but the actual death toll is believed to be much higher.