World News
“Imagine if there existed a book documenting Hitler’s plans and the atrocities he committed throughout Europe while they were still taking place,” says John Jaw, President of the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, which published the book.
A Chinese minister was served with legal papers Friday charging him with torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The papers were served upon a guard outside Wang Xudong’s hotel room within hours after the Minister of the Information Industry delivered a speech at an internet technology trade summit in Chicago.
Six defendants, including two pro-Communist organizations, were served with a summons for a civil lawsuit yesterday for their roles in an assault against practitioners of Falun Gong last year in New York City.
On June 3, 2004, the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Caucus held a Member’s briefing on China’s current human rights situation in the Rayburn House Office Building. Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Erping Zhang was invited to the briefing and gave a 7-minute speech on the persecution of Falun Gong.
Falun Gong practitioners held “Persecution Meets Principles” torture enactment and picture exhibit at the Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago last month to demonstrate the cruel torture methods used on Falun Gong practitioners in China.
The report was published on March 23, 2004 and submitted to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. It is a summary of communications between the rapporteur and various governments concerning suspected torture cases and urgent appeals during 2003.
Before a packed courthouse in downtown Chicago, oral arguments were presented yesterday to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in the class-action lawsuit against former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin.
On May 27, 2004, the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit will decide if former foreign heads of state may use the “head-of-state” defense, typically limited to sitting heads of state, to shield themselves from civil responsibility for the alleged crimes of torture, genocide and crimes against humanity.
From April 16 to May 9, 2004, the 13th Argentina International Book Fair was held in the largest exhibit hall in the country’s capital city, Buenos Aires. Falun Gong practitioners participated in the book fair for the first time. About 1.3 million people, 300,000 more than usual, came to visit the book fair.
The Chinese Consulate in Chicago refused to renew Ms. Dongmei Wang and Mr. Jiyun Kuang’s passports and withheld the passports simply because they are Falun Gong practitioners. On March 28, US lawyer Eric Ziegenhorn wrote to Consul Saipo Zhou requesting Chinese Consulate to reconsider the withholding of Falun Gong practitioners’ passports to prevent the filing of a legal action.
