November 19, 2008: Falun Gong News Bulletin

Monitoring the Falun Gong Human Rights Crisis in China

FDIC: “Shanghai Court Sentences Falun Gong Practitioner to 3.5 Years for Internet Downloads”
Associated Press: “China Imprisons Falun Gong Follower, Lawyer Says”
Weekly Standard cover story: “China’s Gruesome Organ Harvest”
Congressional Executive Committee on China: Annual Report Highlights 6-10 Office and Intensified Persecution of Falun Gong
The Daily Targum: Speaker at Rutgers’ Panel on Human Rights in China Displays Simpson’s Product Made in Prison

FDIC: “Shanghai Court Sentences Falun Gong Practitioner to 3.5 Years for Internet Downloads”
November 14, 2008 – A Shanghai court sentenced Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Liu Jin to three and a half years in prison on November 3 for downloading information about the practice from the Internet and printing it to distribute to others. Liu was sentenced by Fengxian District Court despite statements made to the court in her defense by prominent Beijing rights lawyer Mo Shaoping.

To read more: /article/830/?cid=84

Associated Press: China Imprisons Falun Gong Follower, Lawyer Says
November 14, 2008 – “A Chinese woman who downloaded information about the banned Falun Gong … and passed it to others has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison, her lawyer said Friday. Liu Jin, a former university librarian in Shanghai, was sentenced Nov. 3, Beijing-based lawyer Mo Shaoping confirmed in a telephone interview. ‘This is common,’ Mo, who is well known for defending dissidents in China, said of the case and the sentence.”

Weekly Standard cover story: “China’s Gruesome Organ Harvest; The Whole World Isn’t Watching. Why Not?”
November 24 Issue: “My line of inquiry began in a Montreal community center over a year ago, listening to a heavy-set middle-aged Chinese man named Wang Xiaohua, a soft-spoken ordinary guy except for the purple discoloration that extends down his forehead…. After he’d worked for months in the burning sun, Wang’s shaved head had become deeply infected… Inside the facility [the labor camp hospital], the [Falun Gong] practitioners lined up and, one by one, had a large blood sample drawn. Then a urine sample, electrocardiogram, abdominal X-ray, and eye exam. When Wang pointed to his head, the doctor mumbled something about it being normal and motioned for the next patient.”

By interviewing Wang, I was tipping my hat to the extensive research already done by others. I was not expecting to see Wang’s pattern repeated as my interviews progressed, nor did I expect to find that organ harvesting had spread beyond Falun Gong. I was wrong.”

Congressional Executive Committee on China: Annual Report Highlights Role of 6-10 Office and Intensified Persecution of Falun Gong
October 31, 2008: “The central government intensified its nine-year campaign of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in the months leading up to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. Chinese security forces continued to detain and imprison Falun Gong practitioners and subjected some who refused to disavow the practice to torture and other forms of abuse in reeducation through labor (RTL) camps and other detention facilities. Official accounts of the crackdown were publicly available on Web sites for all 31 of China’s provincial-level jurisdictions in 2007-2008.”

[Note: The report includes an extensive analysis of the role of the extra-legal 6-10 Office on the basis of official Chinese sources such as the following]. An official report from the Communist Party Political-Legal Committee of Wuling district in the city of Changde in Hunan province urges cadres to “resolutely achieve the `three zeroes goal’ in 6-10 management work,” which is defined as “no petitions in Beijing, zero incidents of local assemblies and protests, zero incidents of interference with television broadcasts.” The same report also stresses the need to carry out four tasks to this end: (1) “strengthen the prevention, control, and management [of Falun Gong] and conscientiously keep an unflinching eye on Falun Gong practitioners,” (2) “strengthen the use of transformation through reeducation as a line of attack against their fortifications, use all your might to transform obstinate Falun Gong elements,” (3) “strengthen strikes against and punishment of [Falun Gong], give the `Falun Gong’ underground gang a forceful scare,” and (4) “strengthen… cautionary education, reinforce the people’s ability to recognize, prevent, and oppose [groups like Falun Gong].”

To read more: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_house_hearings&docid=f:45233.wais
For more on the 6-10 Office (including a chain of command chart): http://www.faluninfo.net/topic/17/

The Daily Targum: Speaker at Rutgers’ Panel on Human Rights in China Displays Simpson’s Product Made in Prison
“Dr. Charles Lee, a panelist, was imprisoned in China for three years. Lee said the Chinese government … forced him to make products such as Homer Simpson slippers. Lee displayed one of the recognizable slippers, which was purchased at a New Jersey Target store, for the audience. Lee said the government imprisoned him for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual meditation that focuses on truth, compassion and tolerance.

Lee said one such method is called “little white dragon.” The torturer pushes and screws a sharp tube into the prisoner’s flesh and grinds the skin until flesh comes out of the tube’s other side. Once sanguine, the hole in the skin is rubbed with salt.”