2019 Friends of Falun Gong Year in Review

Annual Review

www.FoFG.org

2019

Letter from the Executive Director Dear Legislator,

Alan Adler, Friends of Falun Gong Executive Director

Front cover: David Kilgour, former Canadian Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific), speaks at a rally commemorating the 20th anniversary of the persecution of Falun Gong in China. The West Lawn of Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., July 18, 2019. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Twenty years and the brutal persecution of Falun Gong not only continues, but extends towards the general public in China. With complete control of the media the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) propaganda is able to control the narrative while carrying out genocide under wraps.

Yet, thanks to the tenacity and sacrifice of many brave witnesses and investigators, more facts of the persecution have come to light over the years. The CCP’s multi-billion dollar, on-demand organ harvest business and other crimes are now frequently reported in the mainstream media.

It is becoming ever more obvious how Falun Gong practitioners’ fight for freedom matters to each of us, no matter where we are in the world.

Throughout these pages you will see how the CCP’s insidious reach has become international—from the streets of Hong Kong to boardrooms of American companies.

Falun Gong practitioners bear the brunt of the CCP’s tyranny, yet they and their friends take the lead defending freedom of belief—not only for Falun Gong, but for all of us. We hope you will join their efforts.

Sincerely, Alan Adler

President Trump Meets Practitioner Dr. Zhang has personally Dr. Yuhua Zhang is a Falun endured electric shocks, Gong practitioner and former sleep deprivation, and forced Nanjing Normal University injections of unknown drugs while professor who, at the hands of imprisoned for her the Chinese faith. Her husband communist It was the first time during Zhengyu Ma is still regime, survived the 20-year crackdown on in prison for sending 7.5 years of letters to the torture intended Falun Gong that a sitting U.S. Chinese regime’s to force her to president has personally leaders calling renounce her heard the testimony of a faith. On July on them to end Falun Gong practitioner. the persecution.

17 she had the She fears that he opportunity may become a victim of forced to share her experiences with organ harvesting, and hopes President Donald Trump, at the that the U.S. and international White House. communities can help put an The event was attended by 27 end to the persecution. “Forced survivors of religious persecution organ harvesting still exists, so we from 17 countries, including China, North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, should take action,” Zhang said.

“Words don’t work.” and Burma. It was held as part “Each of you has suffered of the Trump administration’s tremendously for your faith,” effort to defend religious freedom Trump said. “Each of you has worldwide, and is part of the now become a witness to the Ministerial to Advance Religious importance of advancing religious Freedom conference, hosted by liberty all around the world.” the U.S. State Department.

Secret Videos of a Chinese Labor Camp Clandestine footage shot by a former Chinese prisoner at Masanjia Labor Camp was released in June. He was imprisoned for his practice of Falun Gong.

In his testimony he said that he and his fellow prisoners had to make diodes for use in export electronics, for at least 16 hours a day. They were barely fed, never paid, and were beaten by guards daily. The videos are hard to watch— they make us face the reality that prisoners of conscience live in, and they challenge our own consciences.

But they are worth watching because armed with video evidence, we have the chance to act.

It’s no secret that the Chinese regime doesn’t care about human rights as long as the money is flowing. As consumers, we can push for greater transparency, and tell companies that it matters to us whether their supply chains pass through China.

Congressional-Executive Commission on China Marks 20th Anniversary of Persecution The CongressionalExecutive Commission on China (CECC) was created by Congress in October 2000 with the legislative mandate to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law in China, and to submit an annual report to the President and Congress. The Commission consists of nine Senators, nine

Members of the House of Representatives, and five senior Administration officials appointed by the President.

The Commission keeps a database of political prisoners held in China. Its 2018 list contains numerous cases of Falun Gong practitioners in detention, including brief summaries of their situations.

On the 20th anniversary of the

School as a Tool of Persecution This year FoFG did a series featuring the experiences of young Falun Gong practitioners who experienced persecution in school.

See https://bit.ly/2NSu40x to find out 8 ways Chinese teachers, administrators, and students are used to perpetrate state-led repression. Make sure to visit the Personal Stories section online for more first-person narratives.

persecution, the CECC issued the following statement: For the past twenty years, Falun Gong practitioners have experienced appalling and unacceptable human rights abuses in China. Banned by the Chinese government in July 1999, many Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, forced labor, and constant harassment. On this sad anniversary, the Chinese government should end the persecution of Falun Gong and allow an independent and

transparent U.N. investigation into the human rights abuses suffered by Falun Gong over the past two decades. We also urge the Chinese government to immediately and unconditionally release Deng Cuiping, Zuo Hongtao, and numerous other Falun Gong practitioners, and respect the freedom of all Falun Gong practitioners to hold their beliefs and their right to practice in accordance with those beliefs as guaranteed under international human rights standards and China’s own constitution.

Twenty Years of Peaceful Resistance Falun Gong practitioners take part in a parade commemorating the 20th anniversary of the persecution of Falun Gong in China.

Washington, D.C., July 18, 2019. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

2019 has been a significant year in the resistance against religious persecution in China, as media attention converged on concentration camps in Xinjiang and a people’s tribunal that confirmed the reality of forced organ harvesting.

These events, followed by the protests against the proposed extradition bill in Hong Kong, garnered unprecedented media attention on China’s human rights abuses.

As part of a three-day Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, hosted by the State department, President Trump met with a Falun Gong practitioner who survived 7.5 years of persecution in China’s prisons.

Words of Support from Our Friends ...Psychological coercion and forced psychiatric drugs to make people recant Falun Gong, forced organ harvesting, psychological and physical torture, and killing. Immediate action and accountability is needed.

—Dr. Linda Lagemann, Commissioner, Citizens Commission on Human Rights No government, much less the Chinese Communist Party, has the right to deny anyone freedom of religion. As long as I’m still in Congress, I will fight for your right to practice freely in China.

—Steve Chabot, Congressman from Ohio Sixty years ago, Congress established Captive Nations Week as a time each year for Americans to show their solidarity with all who toil under the tyranny of communism. And the American people have a special place in our hearts for the people of China.

—Marion Smith, Executive Director, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation You have been on the front lines of the fight to end persecution and human rights violations in China... It has taken far too long for our government and international community to respond to the gross violations of human rights that the CCP is committing against the Falun Gong.

—Suzanne Scholte, President, Defense Forum Foundation

Honoring the Advocates

A Thank-You to O People’s Tribunal This year Friends of Falun Gong is pleased to honor the members of ETAC for their work. ETAC, or The International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China, is a charity that works internationally on ending forced organ harvesting in China.

ETAC helped organize the China Tribunal to hear testimony about the issue. Fifteen Falun Gong practitioners from all over the world traveled to the UK to share what they experienced while imprisoned in China.

On June 17, 2019, the Tribunal concluded beyond reasonable doubt that

“in China forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience has been practiced for a substantial period of time involving a very substantial number of victims.”

These organs— including vital ones like lungs, hearts, and livers— are taken on demand, often when the victim is still living, in order to supply paying transplant patients.

The Friends of Falun Gong Human Rights Award was created in 2018 to recognize and celebrate individuals and groups who have made significant contributions to supporting Falun Gong practitioners’ freedom of belief on a local, national, or international scale.

Previous winners were David Kilgour and

s

Organizers Behind the l on Organ Harvesting David Matas for their groundbreaking exposé on China’s forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners.

The China Tribunal— chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, who formerly served as lead prosecutor of Slobodan Milosevic at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia —is an independent, international people’s tribunal with members from the US, UK, Malaysia and Iran bringing expertise in international human rights law, transplant surgery, international relations, Chinese history, and business.

Over the past 12 months this non-partisan body has worked to determine what criminal offenses, if any, have been committed by relevant

state or state-approved bodies, organizations, or individuals in China, who may have been involved in forced organ harvesting.

The Tribunal reviewed all available evidence and held hearings in December 2018 and April 2019, where over 50 fact witnesses, experts, investigators, and analysts testified.

The Tribunal concluded “beyond reasonable doubt” that Falun Gong practitioners are the primary victims of forced organ harvesting, and that the Uighur population now in concentration camps are likely the next victims. Its recommendation is for the international community to take action, determine if these crimes constitute genocide, and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Spotlight

Corporate Responsibility in the Age of Chinese Tyranny With brands being more vocal than ever about domestic social justice issues, it’s been eyeopening to observe their varied responses to the fight for justice and basic human rights in China.

Following a pro-Hong Kong tweet by a team manager, the NBA apologized prolifically to the Chinese in an attempt to secure their financial interests there, and even imposed censorship on fans attending games in the United States. In effect, the NBA enforced Chinese speech rules on American citizens. These preemptive measures drew condemnation from the American and international public, proving that in chasing Chinese money, there can be no clean win.

More and more companies are being called out for sourcing their products from Chinese contractors

linked with labor camps. In October, the Trump Administration blocked shipments from a Chinese company making baby pajamas sold at Costco warehouses. In this case, the manufacturer was accused of using labor in Uighur concentration camps. Others named include Burberry, Target, Calvin Klein, Armani, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Uniqlo, and Olymp.

In the information sector, Facebook has admitted to sharing user data with at least four Chinese companies, including Huawei. Google search results have been proven biased toward CCP-approved results when it comes to topics sensitive to the Chinese regime.

As the world becomes more aware of the CCP’s many crimes, it will be crucial for companies to make the right choices.

Practitioners Targeted in Hong Kong At about 4 p.m. on September 24, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Liao Qiulan was attacked by two mobsters in Hong Kong. After being hit numerous times with expandable batons, Ms. Liao’s head bled profusely. The incident was reported to the police.

Kan Hung-chueng, spokesperson for the Hong Kong Falun Dafa Association, said that the CCP had recently widened the persecution against Falun Gong from mainland China to Hong Kong. He called on the international society to pay attention to increased brutality from the CCP in Hong Kong.

On the afternoon of September 24, Ms. Liao went with two friends to the Cheung Sha Wan Police Station to discuss the issuance of a permit for Falun Gong activities on October 1. As the women returned after the meeting and were walking along Cheung Shun Street they saw two strangers coming towards them from the opposite direction. “Ms. Ho and I were in the front, while Ms. Liao was walking behind us,” recalled Ms. Lau. Noticing the two men holding foot-long batons with their faces covered in black cloth, Ms. Lau was curious. “They passed Ms. Ho and me, and went directly to Ms. Liao. They hit her with the batons several times. Two of us called out, and tried to stop them with our bags. But the two men fled

Minghui.org

and left in a white vehicle,” she said.

Although Falun Gong is freely practiced in Hong Kong, pro-CCP organizations such as the Youth Care Association (YCA) have been interfering with and harassing practitioners. Kan Hung-chueng believes that this attack was also ordered by CCP entities.

Urging local police to bring the attackers to justice, Mr. Kan said, “The whole world bears witness to all of this—the suppression and persecution of Hong Kong people are in plain view of the world.”

—Minghui.org

List of 105,580 Persecutors Released Minghui.org, the information clearing house of information on the persecution of Falun Gong, recently released an updated list of the perpetrators involved in the persecution of Falun Gong. This list is posted on a Minghui-affiliated website and covers a total of 105,580 names with the perpetrators’ personal information and crimes committed against Falun Gong practitioners. The purpose of compiling this list is to stop the persecution, preserve what is good, and uphold justice.

Minghui.org published a Notice in late May 2019, urging Falun Gong practitioners “to take immediate action to collect, compile, and submit to Minghui.org information on the perpetrators, their family members, and their assets, so as to locate and verify their identities.”

Since then, volunteer editors have been working hard to update the list of perpetrators.

These perpetrators range from police officers to doctors involved in illicit organ harvesting. The perpetrators are searchable by name and province. Details about

the crimes they’ve committed are listed wherever possible, including who their victims were, their office address and their contact information.

Such reporting by Minghui has proven life-saving in many cases, where practitioners abroad were able to call and write the persecutors at their workplaces demanding the release of those detained for their faith.

In July, practitioners in the U.S. submitted a name list of human rights violators to the U.S. Department of State (DOS), urging the agency to deny visa or port entry for these individuals.

The list is available in Chinese at https://library.minghui.org/criminal/html/lastname/index.html

The Persecution by The Numbers

45

The number confirmed dead from persecution between January and June

61

The average age of the victims at the time of their death

156

Cases Returned in Chinese Judicial System in 2018 Thanks to Falun Gong practitioners’ peaceful efforts to raise awareness of the persecution in the past 20 years, many working in the law enforcement and judicial systems have come to understand the illegality of the persecution and begun to distance themselves from the communist regime. Some have openly refused to carry out the persecution policy.

Although only 10 out of the 156 practitioners were later released, it is still significant given the ongoing persecution in China, as the judges and prosecutors risked losing their jobs or facing other forms of retaliation for seeking justice for the practitioners.

922

The number of practitioners arrested in July alone

Recent Accounts Woman Loses 3 Family Members in 15 Years to Persecution of Falun Gong [Heilongjiang Province] Man Given Unknown Drugs in Labor Camp, Dies After Years of Police Harassment [Hebei Province] Woman in Her 60s Tortured in Prison: Soaked in Cold Water and Beaten [Liaoning Province] Woman Given One Year for Putting Up a Banner about Falun Gong [Liaoning Province] Dentist Disabled Due to Beatings, Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison [Hebei Province] Four Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in Two Hours, Theirs Homes Ransacked [Sichuan Province]

April 2019, Epoch Times May 2019, Fox News June 2019, Reuters June, 2019 Vision Times

A group of European Union parliamentarians called to sanction China for its human rights abuses against Falun Gong practitioners, Christians, and Uyghur, Kazakh, and Tibetan minorities.

Undercover Video Reveals Brutal Treatment of Falun Gong Prisoners Inside Chinese Labor Camps A California family tries to recover the body of a sister who died from torture in a Chinese prison camp; they film their trials in the documentary “Finding Courage.”

China is harvesting organs from Falun Gong members, finds expert panel The China Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, has concluded “beyond reasonable doubt” that Falun Gong practitioners are the primary victims of forced organ harvesting in China.

US Will Ban Visas for Chinese Human Rights Violators The United States is looking to restrict the entry of Chinese officials who have been identified as having been a part of human rights violations. This involves the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

June, 2019 News.com.au

Map Exposes the Extent of China’s ‘Human Farms’

June, 2019 ETAC

The Year’s Top Headlines

European Union Calls for Sanctions Against Human Rights Abusers in China

A growing number of figures in the world’s medical and academic communities have said the scale of the trade is such it cannot possibly be supported by voluntary and legal donations.

1000 Canadian and US Physicians Sign Against Forced Organ Harvesting 1000 North American physicians have signed the following letter against forced organ harvesting atrocities in China. Physicians from Australia and the UK and citizens worldwide have also signed in support.

November, 2019 Epoch Times

October, 2019 Epoch Times

June, 2019 News.com.au

Falun Dafa Day parade. New York City, May 16. (Edward Dye/The Epoch Times)

The U.S. Is Championing The Right To Freedom Of Religion Or Belief Internationally Sam Brownback, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, emphasized the gloomy fact that “80% of people live in places where religious freedom is under attack,” naming China as a top violator.

Google Features Chinese Communist Party’s Message About Religion On some pages, CCP-controlled sites make up the majority of search results. This pattern is observable across several search engines, including Bing, Yahoo, Ask, and Duckduckgo, according to FDIC.

Thousands Gather in Taiwan for Tradition Now Banned in Mainland China The map and seven Chinese characters were assembled by about 6,500 Falun Gong practitioners, some of whom traveled to Taiwan to join in the spectacle.

Falun Gong practitioners take part in a candlelight vigil commemorating the 20th anniversary of the persecution of Falun Gong in China. The West Lawn of Capitol Hill, July 18, 2019. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)