AI Fact Sheet on ongoing Falun Gong Persecution in China (November 2006)

FALUN GONG PERSECUTION
FACTSHEET

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HAS APPEALED TO THE CHINESE AUTHORITIES TO STOP THE CAMPAIGN OF PERSECUTION OF FALUN GONG, INCLUDING BY RELEASING ALL THOSE DETAINED SOLELY ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR PEACEFUL RELIGIOUS OR SPIRITUAL BELIEFS AND PRACTICES.

Repression of Spiritual and Religious Groups in China
# Religious observance outside official channels in China remains tightly circumscribed. In March 2005, the Chinese authorities promulgated a new 'Regulation on Religious Affairs' aimed at strengthening official controls on religious activities.

# Unregistered Catholics and Protestants associated with unofficial house churches were also harassed, arbitrarily detained and imprisoned.

# Freedom of religion continues to be severely restricted in Tibet and other Tibetan Areas of China, including the arrests and torture of many Buddhist monks and nuns.

# The authorities continue to use the global 'war on terror' to justify harsh repression of the mainly Muslim Uighur community in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Repression resulted in the closure of 'unofficial' mosques and arrests of imams.

Persecution of Falun Gong
# When the Falun Gong spiritual movement was first banned in July 1999, police rounded up thousands of practitioners in a Beijing stadium.

# The crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement was renewed in April 2005. A Beijing official clarified that since the group had been banned as a "heretical organisation", any activities linked to Falun Gong were illegal.

# Amnesty International has raised concerns that the official campaign of public vilification of Falun Gong in the official Chinese press has created a climate of hatred against Falun Gong practitioners in China which may be encouraging acts of violence against them.

# A large but unknown number of Falun Gong practitioners remain in detention where they are at high risk of torture.

# More than 250,000 people in China are being detained in camps known as 'Re-education through Labour', on vaguely defined charges having never seen a lawyer, never been to a court, and with no form of judicial supervision. It is unknown how many Falun Gong members are detained in these camps.

# Falun Gong members are at a high risk of torture while in detainment. Torture and ill-treatment is endemic and widespread in a wide variety of state institutions. It is frequently used as a punishment against those deemed to be "subversive" or "resisting reform".

# Common methods of torture include kicking, beating, electric shocks, suspension by the arms, shackling in painful positions, and sleep and food deprivation. Gender-specific forms of torture, including rape and sexual abuse, have also been reported.

Report on alleged live organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners
# A report published by independent researchers David Matas and David Kilgour on 6th July 2006, concludes that large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners are victims of 'systematic' organ harvesting, whilst still alive, throughout China.

# Amnesty International is continuing to analyse sources of information about the Falun Gong organ harvesting allegations, including the report published by Canadians David Matas and David Kilgour.

# There is, however, a widely documented practice of the buying and selling of organs of death penalty prisoners in China. The lack of transparency surrounding such practices makes it impossible to determine whether written consent was obtained.

# It is unknown how many Falun Gong practitioners are being executed by the Chinese authorities. While Chinese authorities conceal national statistics on the death penalty as a "state secret", various sources indicate China may be executing between 10,000 -15,000 people a year.

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Human Cost

Gao Rongrong, who died in custody in June after being detained in Longshan Reeducation through Labour facility in Shenyang, Liaoning province. Officials had reportedly beaten her in 2004, including by using electro-shock batons on her face and neck, which caused severe blistering and eyesight problems, after she was discovered reading Falun Gong materials.

Deng Shiying reportedly died on 19 July 2003, the day after her release from Jilin Women's Prison in Changchun City, Jilin Province, where she was serving a seven-year prison sentence in connection with producing and distributing information describing human rights violations against Falun Gong practitioners in China. According to Falun Gong sources, she was beaten by other inmates, apparently prompted by prison officials, shortly before her release.

copy of the report on http://www.amnesty.org.nz/