Information Centre
Adherents of Falun Gong define it as a traditional self-cultivation practice to improve mind and body. The Chinese government is among the worst offenders as it seeks to keep tight control over its citizens. In recent years, a rapidly growing movement called Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) has been a target of repression by the Chinese government, which banned it in July 1999.
The annual “Day of Peace” celebration was held at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba on March 17, 2004. Organizers of this event had strongly hoped Falun Gong practitioners would again come to give a dance performance in Tang Dynasty costumes.
A family of Falun Gong practitioners have called on the Federal
Government to condemn China’s persecution of Falun Gong.
We are female Falun Dafa practitioners from the People’s Republic of China. With great indignation, we relate the inhumane torture we have been suffering over the past four and one-half years. We are seeking your help.
Throughout China’s labor camps and police stations, we have been subjected to torture and humiliation. Some female practitioners have been forced to stand still for days and nights while being denied food, the use of a restroom and sleep. Many have been beaten and shocked with high-voltage electric batons. Others have been sent to mental hospitals and injected with unknown substances. Many have been exposed to extremely hot or cold weather.
During the month of February 2004, details of 30 deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in China were uncovered despite a continued black-out maintained by Chinese authorities on information about Falun Gong-related cases.
On March 20, nearly 30 Falun Gong practitioners participated in the annual Warrandyte Festival held in Melbourne.
Sun Yuhua insisted on practicing Falun Gong, in March 2003, she was arrested and detained at Team Two, Brigade Two of Liaoning Province Women’s Prison, where she was tortured to death on April 11, 2003.
Attorneys Terri Marsh and Anthony D’Amato, the two lawyers representing Falun Gong practitioners, filed a legal argument on the case against Jiang Zemin to the Seventh Circuit Appellate Court. The court will arrange an oral argument and the judge will make a decision later on.
Mrs. Guangzhen Li, a 66 year-old housewife and mother of New York resident Jin (Jason) Xiao, was arrested on March 15, 2004 in Hubei, China for handing out informational flyers in a public area. Authorities are holding Mrs. Li and two of her friends, both senior ladies, in Gongan County Detention Center in Hubei, China.
Australian Lisa Liang’s sister, Ms TANG Yiwen, was released on 15 March 2004 from Chatou Brainwashing Class in Baiyun District of Guangzhou City due to the rescue efforts of Falun Gong practitioners and kind-hearted people all over the world.
