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Chinese Communist Media Fabricates Interview to Slander Voice of Germany
On August 28, the Chinese communist regime’s mouthpiece Xinhua.net fabricated words by Zhang Danhong, the vice chairman of Voice of Germany (VOG)’s Chinese Department who was suspended from broadcasting because of her pro-communist comments. Xinhua.net did not conduct any interview with Zhang. In addition, the Xinhua.net article claimed to cite a German Focus Magazine reporter “with a Falun Gong background,” who has no connection with Falun Gong.
Xinhua.net claimed, in a report entitled, “A Reporter From ‘Voice of Germany’ Suspended For Being Pro-China,” that a Xinhua.net reporter called Zhang Danhong herself, and confirmed that VOG held a meeting to condemn her on the afternoon of August 26. Zhang was suspended from broadcasting because of her pro-communist comments. VOG explained this was because Zhang didn’t protect the democracy, freedom and human rights values that VOG has always worked to protect.
The Epoch Times learned that before Xinhua.net published this report, Zhang did not accept the interview with Xinhua.net at all. In the report by Xinhua, it was also mentioned that the VOG requested that she should not accept interviews from outside media while she was under a suspension.
Further Distortions by Xinhua.net***continues*** On August 28, the Chinese communist regime’s mouthpiece Xinhua.net fabricated words by Zhang Danhong, the vice chairman of Voice of Ge... more -
Beijing Labor Camp Tour Will be Fake Warns Victim
It is quite possible Chinese authorities will allow international journalists into a Beijing forced labour camp as part of their Olympic campaign, says a former inmate, but expect another round of fakes.
Rumours surfaced last week that Chinese authorities may be preparing to allow labour camp tours after reports that many Falun Gong practitioners, illegally arrested for their spiritual beliefs, were being moved out of Beijing forced labor camps and replaced by Chinese Communist Party loyalists or otherwise coerced inmates.
Jennifer Zeng, who gained refugee status in Australia after spending a year detained in the Beijing Municipal Women’s Re-Education-Through-Labour (RTL) Camp, said she was forced to participate in fabrications of prison life for high level officials on many occasions and that it is quite possible there are plans afoot to stage an event for Western media.
“Whenever there were visitors we were made to get up one hour earlier and make everything shine and neat like in a hospital,” she told The Epoch Times.
“We would work very hard but when there were visitors, we were forced to stop and we were taken to a kind of playground or recreation room and we were forced to play cards or play basketball to show to the visitors.
“As soon as the visitors were gone, we were taken back to our dormitories and back to our work again,” she said.
“It was all faked.”
Human rights watchdog, the Falun Dafa Information Center (FDI), said Chinese authorities began moving Falun Gong prisoners out of Beijing last week—immediately after their publication of a guide pinpointing detention centers close to Olympic sites.
FDI's sources within China revealed that many practitioners have been moved to Shanxi Forced Labour Camp and Shanxi Women's Forced Labour Camp, while others were reported to have been sent to Inner Mongolia.
So-called "reformed" practitioners, people who say they once practiced Falun Gong and now repeat the Communist Party's denunciations of the practice, have also been moved into the Beijing RTL camps, furthering suggestions that there could be an inspection.
In April 2001, a month after the regime invited them, foreign and Chinese media visited Masanjia Labor Camp in Liaoning Province, where “interviews” with Falun Gong practitioners were allowed, an FDI report states.
The labor camp had freshly painted walls and prisoners wore brand-new jumpsuits with their names embroidered on them in Chinese and in English. They were apparently “enjoying” a clean and healthy environment. However, documentation of dozens of prisoners previously held there reveal tales of horrific torture and abuse.
Ms. Zeng said any hope of obtaining the truth of prisoners’ status from the fake inspections is wishful thinking. In her experience, not only was the physical environment dressed up but prisoners themselves would be too afraid to tell the truth.
“Everybody knows you are not supposed to talk to anyone visiting because after they have gone, you will bear all the consequences,” she explained, “that is the reason why they have taken all these Falun Gong practitioners away.
“Only Falun Gong practitioners have the courage to tell the truth so they have to make sure all the "unreformed" ones were taken away.”
She also said that moving reformed Falun Gong practitioners into detention camps to speak to the media would yield little understanding of prison life because people who have been "reformed" through torture have suffered severe handicaps.
“I actually saw many Falun Gong practitioners driven into insanity or madness so I was not surprised to see "reformed" practitioners talk nonsense about Falun Gong.” She continues, “The torture was too much and it has passed their limitations of endurance. I have observed that they have a kind of special mental problem after that.”
**continues** It is quite possible Chinese authorities will allow international journalists into a Beijing forced labour camp as part of their Olymp... more -
Falun Gong Dragnet Outside Beijing
Chinese police have set up a dragnet less than 200km from Beijing to arrest practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, sources inside the country say. The move is believed to be a result of escalating paranoia over dissent around Olympic time.
In Chicheng City and Huailai County of Hebei province, pictures of Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, have suddenly appeared on the ground at train and bus stations. The information was released by New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) – an independent satellite network that has beamed into China since 2001.
Police in Hebei Province have admitted to placing photos of Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi on the ground, forcing commuters to step on them, says NTDTV.
NTDTV says at least two Falun Gong practitioners have already been arrested in Chicheng for refusing to step on Li’s picture and more than 20 have been arrested in Huailai.
“For practitioners of Falun Gong, the image of our Teacher is a sacred one. The act of walking on such an image would be equivalent to a Christian stamping on an image of Jesus,” says Falun Dafa spokesperson Kay Rubacek in Sydney, Australia.
Chinese Communist officials used the same technique in the early days of the persecution against Falun Gong, to tease out practitioners for arrest, she said. On July 20, 1999 the regime launched a persecution campaign against Falun Gong that continues today.
"Sadly, this method to isolate and vilify a group within society is not new and is known to have been used to identify Falun Gong practitioners as targets by authorities when the persecution first began in 1999," said Rubacek.
“It is hard to believe that such an archaic method, reminiscent of the cultural revolution, to 'test' ones conscience in public is being used today in a country granted the Olympic Games,” continued Rubacek.
Thomasz Korczynski, University lecturer and Polish coordinator at the Aid to the Church in Need, said this was an act of double defamation.
“It insults both you, and the person being stepped upon, in this case, a person that Falun Gong practitioners have a high degree of respect for,” he said.
"It's insidious. It’s a terrible thing that you are forced to step on another person."
Mr Korczynski said this was an old method.
"It reminds me of something applied to Christians during the Cultural Revolution. They would put a cross on the ground, and demand that people step on it, one after another. Those that didn’t were sent to [labour] camps later sometimes even killed.”
Security is reportedly extremely tight in the Zhangjiakou district where Huailai is located, even tighter than in Beijing, say sources from the region who did not wish to be named.
Citizens are required to carry ID simply to go shopping and may be stopped at any time. The local source believes that the extra security squeeze is possible in Zhangjiakou because, while Beijing is teaming with foreigners, including 30,000 foreign media, Zhangjiakou is outside of international scrutiny.
Falun Gong practitioners in Zhangjiakou are suggesting that foreign reporters visit Zhangjiakou to get a "taste" of the situation there. Chinese police have set up a dragnet less than 200km from Beijing to arrest practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, source... more -
China intensifies security following threat
Just over a week before the Beijing Olympics, a militant Islamic group's claims of responsibility for bombings in China have fueled unease about security.
The government has assured its people and the Olympic community that heavy security will ensure a secure games. But its clampdown has smothered a broad array of groups, many with grievances against the government but without a history of violence.
Among the potential troublemakers Chinese security specialists have identified are Tibetan separatists, who staged occasionally violent protests last spring; members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement and unemployed workers.
One militant, identified by the Washington-based monitoring group IntelCenter as commander Seyfullah, warned athletes and spectators "particularly the Muslims" to stay away.
"Our aim is to target the most critical points related to the Olympics. We will try to attack Chinese central cities severely using the tactics that have never been employed," he said.
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Chinese police immediately played down the threat, saying the explosions in Chinese cities claimed by the group were not the work of terrorists.
Still Beijing is being emptied of political critics, underground Christian organizers and ordinary Chinese who come to the capital to protest local government injustices.
Plainclothes security agents surprised rights campaigner Hou Wenzhuo at a cafe on May 30, putting a hood over her head and holding her in an undisclosed detention center for 17 days.
Among their chief concerns during interrogations, she said, were plans for a "human rights torch relay" organized by an exiled Tiananmen Square democracy movement figure and whether Chinese at home might get involved.
"The government is worried that this 'human rights torch' will detract attention from China" and the Olympics, Hou said. "They didn't beat me, but there are different kinds of intimidation." Just over a week before the Beijing Olympics, a militant Islamic group's claims of responsibility for bombings in China have fuel... more -
Human Rights Torch arrives in San Francisco
On April 5, 2008 the Human Rights Torch arrived in San Francisco after traveling across the world beginning last year in Greece. The torch is a celebration of human rights and was established by a Falun Gong advocacy group in protest of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
In this video, Supervisor Chris Daly, '68 Olympic medalist John Carlos and the organizers of the event explain why the run was organized and the history of Olympic politics. On April 5, 2008 the Human Rights Torch arrived in San Francisco after traveling across the world beginning last year in Greece. The t... more -
Some Truths Are Intolerable
A global network of spies, deception and political pressure must be overcome to prevent the further suffering of innocence. Some Truths Are Intolerable is a short film about the persecution of Falun Dafa (a peaceful spiritual practice from China), at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). From 1992-1999 Falun Dafa was freely followed throughout China, until the government decided that there were too many people studying the energy exercises and meditation. The CCP banned the practice and immediately declared up to 100million innocent people as being criminals. Since then, thousands have been tortured to death for their beliefs, hundreds of thousands are in slave labour camps, and millions have had their lives ruined by their own government. It is the intention of What Is Tough (a project dedicated to releasing a feature film about this issue) to bring to the public's attention this global disaster, before the Olympic Games are held in Beijing, in August of 2008. The atrocities covered in the film continue to this day.
Please visit www.whatistough.com for more information on the project and please sign-up to Current TV to vote for this film, so that more people become aware of the truth about Falun Dafa, because some truths are intolerable!
Thank you. A global network of spies, deception and political pressure must be overcome to prevent the further suffering of innocence. Some Truth... more
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