World News
On December 1, 2003, Ms. Foo Yeong-Ching, the fiance’ of Falun Dafa practitioner Charles Li, an American citizen, learned additional news after a telephone conversation with a U.S. consular official in Shanghai. She learned that Jiang Zemin and the state terror organization known officially as the “610 Office,” have stepped up their efforts to brainwash Charles Li.
On November 29, 2003, about 1500 Falun Dafa practitioners from North America and other countries gathered at the World Congress Center in Atlanta to attend the 2003 Southeast US Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference.
Yoko was arrested in Beijing on May 24, 2002 for distributing flyers to passers-by in Beijing to call for an end to the persecution. She was sentenced to one and a half years in a forced labor camp. During her imprisonment, her husband, friends, and fellow Falun Gong practitioners strove to rescue her all the time.
Even after Les Presses Chinoises was sued in 2002 and ordered to stop its defamation, it continued to carry full-length articles from mainland China that demonized Falun Gong. Then, two questions still exist; what kind of role has Les Presses Chinoises played in defaming Falun Gong, and what harm has it brought to the plaintiffs?
According to Agence France Presse’s report from Washington on November 11, 2003, a few days ago, a high-powered US congressional trio advised the Dallas, Texas based cosmetics giant Mary Kay Inc. to stand up to China’s demands that sales associates swear not to join the banned Falun Gong spiritual group.
Two Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioners were illegally detained by the Mainland regime in the past 30 days. On November 19, 2003, together with relatives of these two practitioners, Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioners and global organizations for the rescue of Falun Gong practitioners initiated a series of rescue efforts.
Seven Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners, including Lin Hsiao-Kai and an under-aged victim, filed a lawsuit in a Taiwan High Court accusing former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, former Chinese Vice Premier Li Lanqing and member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo with genocide. The lawsuit is based on a Taiwanese law for the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide stipulated in 1953.
This is the first criminal case by Taiwanese people against Chinese officials and the first case in which members of the Chinese community have brought charges against Jiang Zemin. It follows lawsuits filed against Jiang in the US, Belgium and Spain. Lawsuits against Jiang Zemin are also planned in Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Germany and Ireland.
This MEP reminded practitioners that action must be taken, justice will prevail and as a result the persecution of Falun Gong will come to an end.
The lawsuit is filed by a total of 39 victims of this persecution, the German Falun Dafa Association and dedicated citizens who support an end to the terror campaign against Falun Gong in China by taking part in this lawsuit. The complaint charges them with genocide, crimes against humanity and torture, as well as dangerous bodily harm to Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Legal experts say the trial is poised to test the boundaries between freedom of expression and freedom of the press, and the right to be protected from defamation and hate.
