'LONDON (EFGIC) – With a visit to China planned at the end of June, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture’s latest report highlights the torturing of Falun Gong practitioners there. Of the 115 countries covered, China received by far the most ink in the 420-page report. Of over 130 cases of reported torture and abuse in China, approximately 100 of them were perpetrated against Falun Gong practitioners.'

Four UK Falun Gong practitioners have been on a week long car tour of Scottish cities since Sunday to raise awareness of the persecution of Falun Gong. On Wednesday the 2nd of June, the car tour reached the city of Dundee. People were very supportive of practitioners who are suffering in China. Dundee’s local newspaper published a supportive article.

On May the 27th 2004, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit opened a court hearing on the case of Falun Gong practitioners' lawsuit against Jiang. On May the 29th, practitioners from Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other cities rallied in front of the Chinese Embassy in Moscow to support the lawsuit.

'According to a report by the Falun Dafa Information Centre, the Chicago Superior Court is to decide whether Jiang Zemin, the ex-chairman of China, is exempt from the charges against him. Groups such as Falun Dafa have charged Jiang Zemin with crimes of cruel torture, genocide, and crimes against humanity. The Falun Dafa Information Centre appealed to Falun Gong practitioners worldwide to go to every Chinese Embassy on this day.'

Ms. Zhao Xiaoping was fondly known as "Sister Xinjiang." At 62 years old, Zhao was a resident in Urumqi City and a retired teacher of a Ceramic Factory. She was arrested for appealing against the persecution of Falun Gong. On January 4, 2001, Ms. Zhao was interrogated by the authorities. When she was returned to the cell, her face was disfigured with 3 big bumps on her head. Her body was covered with dirt, she could not talk, and her lips were tightly shut. She was sent to hospital for emergency treatment on January 5, 2001. The doctors found that she was suffering from internal injuries that consisted of bleeding in her liver, spleen, and stomach. She was also diagnosed as having a swollen heart from the trauma she received and kidney failure. As a result of these massive injuries, Ms. Zhao passed away on January 7, 2001.

Dafa practitioner, Ms. Xu Jinzhi, lived in Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province. In 2002, Ms. Xu Jinzhi was arrested while making Dafa truth clarification materials and the police found Falun Gong flyers in her home. The authorities sentenced her to three years in prison and sent her to the Mudanjiang Prison. On May 25, 2004, Xu Jinzhi's family received a notice stating that she was in critical condition. When her family arrived at the hospital, they saw Xu Jinzhi's emaciated body. They were told she died from a brain hemorrhage. The police didn't allow her family to examine her body and had it cremated two days later, on May 27, 2004.

Mr. Zhang Shengqi was a 35-year-old Dafa practititioner who formerly lived in Jilin Province. In April 2001 he was incarcerated in the Baishan City Forced Labour Camp. Because he refused to renounce his belief, the guards often brutally tortured him. Later he was transferred to the Chaoyanggou Labour Camp in Changchun City. He suffered all kinds of cruel torture and was persecuted by the authorities there to force him to renounce his belief in Falun Dafa. As a result of the abuse, he became emaciated. In March 2002, he was released on medical parole to his family members care but never recovered and died on February 26, 2004.

The Tieshu Group textile factory in Suizhou City once employed a few thousand workers, but has now gone bankrupt due to corrupt dealings between the factory leaders and the local government officials. In order to be able to support themselves, many jobless workers appealed to higher authorities on several occasions with no result. Finally, the unemployed workers protested by blocking the local railways. Information circulating among the workers said that Mayor Wu Chao was falsely telling the higher authorities that the railway blockings were caused by Falun Gong practitioners. Twenty of them were falsely arrested for allegedly practising Falun Gong and taken to the Hubei Province Denglin Farm (a jail), where the police did not allow visits from their family members.

Although you may be aware that many adult practitioners of Falun Gong have been persecuted, tortured and killed under the supervision and instruction of the Jiang regime, you may not be aware that in China at the moment many of the children who are practitioners themselves or are related to practitioners are also experiencing similar persecution.

The police asked Hanmei: "Did you know that man?" Hanmei said that she did not know him. The police asked again: "If you did not know him, why did you give him money?" She said: "As a practitioner, if someone has difficulty, we will help him out." Hanmei continued to say to the police: "Whatever we do, it is for people to know the truth of Dafa. We gave up a lot of things, but it is for more people not to be cheated by the lies." After listening to her, some of the policemen's hearts were touched. Two of the police said: "We do not understand why we are sending such a good person like you to jail."

Falun Gong practitioner and U.S. citizen Charles Lee has been imprisoned for 16 months in China by Jiang's followers. During this period, he has been subjected to various tortures, including physical torment, brainwashing and force-feeding. U.S. government officials have expressed great concern over Mr. Lee's situation and they have protested many times to the Nanjing Prison where he is being detained.

Ms. Huang Xin is a retired military examiner. She was sent to the Liaoning Province Female Prison Hospital for refusing to give up her belief in Falun Gong. At the hospital she was injected with nerve-damaging drugs against her will and has lost most of her memory as well as displays slow reactions to her surroundings.

The newest U.S. space telescope has found what could be the youngest planet ever observed, less than one million years old. Astronomers are amazed at the apparent speed with which it formed, suggesting that solar systems like ours could come together quickly, and be more common than thought. The telescope has even detected life-creating compounds in the same region.