International Human Rights Organizations Continue to Criticise China Over the Persecution of Falun Gong
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor under the US Department of State recently issued its 2008 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom. The report expresses concern about the lack of freedom of belief in China, as it has done in previous years. The report points out that the Chinese government continues to harshly repress religious groups, Falun Gong in particular. Falun Gong practitioners are being arrested, with some dying as a result of torture and maltreatment. The report has listed China as a “country of particular concern” since 1999.