Press Releases

  • EFGIC: Falun Gong Practitioner Shot During Chinese Officials’ Visit to South Africa

    'LONDON (EFGIC) – The drive-by shooting of a Falun Gong practitioner in South Africa on Monday marks a new level of violence and recklessness in former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin’s worldwide persecution of Falun Gong. David Liang was driving one of two cars en route from Johannesburg airport to Pretoria around 8:30 Monday evening when a white car with three occupants overtook them and fired at least five shots into the vehicle. Liang was hospitalized with bullet wounds and his car was disabled in the incident.'
  • EFGIC: Torture Lawsuit Filed Against China’s Minister of Information During U.S. Visit

    LONDON (EFGIC) – 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. “[The] defendant’s acts and omissions were deliberate, wilful, intentional, wanton, malicious and oppressive, and should be punished..."
  • EFGIC: China’s Soothing Words on Torture: Come Back at Show Time

    LONDON (EFGIC) – Three days ago, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture announced that officials in China had postponed his visit, and that inspections of China’s labour camps would not take place as originally agreed upon. After nearly ten years of preparatory talks, the Special Rapporteur is not going to see any labour camps or detention centres because, as the Chinese officials put it, they need more time “to prepare.”
  • EFGIC: Four-year-old Girl Travels to 37 Countries Speaking for Human Rights after Father Killed in China

    LONDON (EFGIC) – 'Little Fadu is only 4 years old, but already she understands that her father, Chengyong Chen, was a very brave man. Chengyong was routinely harassed, arrested several times, and tortured by Chinese police for adhering to his practice of Falun Gong...For the past three years, Fadu – who was an infant when her father died – has travelled the world with her mother, calling for an end to the five-year campaign of systematic violence and brainwashing against Falun Gong in China.'
  • EFGIC: 62 Cases of Falun Gong Practitioners Killed from Torture, Abuse Reported in April and May 2004

    'LONDON (EFGIC) – The policy of China’s former leader to “eradicate Falun Gong” continues to increase the number of deaths by torture in China, as 62 more cases were reported in April and May, 2004. The 41 cases reported in April mark one of the highest tolls reported during the five-year campaign of violence and brainwashing against Falun Gong.'
  • EFGIC: United Nations’ Rapporteur on Torture Highlights China, Falun Gong Ahead of Planned Visit

    '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.'
  • France: Appeal at the Chinese Embassy in Paris to Support the Hearing Against Jiang Zemin in the Chicago Court of Justice

    On May the 27th, joining other countries, practitioners in Paris went to the Chinese Embassy to appeal and support the hearing taking place in Chicago against Jiang Zemin. Passersby stopped to look at information boards illustrating the beauty of Dafa and the cruelty of the persecution happening in China.
  • German Falun Gong Information Centre: Demanding an End to the Former Chinese Head of State's Escape From Punishment

    On September the 12th 2003, the District Court dismissed the suit against Jiang Zemin on the basis of his right to immunity as head of state. The public widely criticised this decision. The plaintiffs filed an appeal on January the 12th 2004 with the Appeals Court in Chicago. On Thursday May the 27th 2004, attorneys, plaintiffs and others functioning as amicus curiae will have an opportunity to verbally address the Appeals Court in Chicago and voice their views.
  • EFGIC: Torture Chambers on Chicago’s Federal Plaza

    LONDON (EFGIC) – A groundbreaking public exhibition in the streets of Chicago is re-creating the conditions of Chinese labour camps and torture chambers. As part of events to build public understanding of the extensive persecution against Falun Gong in China that lead to the lawsuit in Chicago federal court against former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, Falun Gong practitioners are enacting methods of torture in the exhibition “Persecution Meets Principle.”
  • EFGIC: Fifth Annual World Falun Dafa Day Celebrations Held in 50 Cities Worldwide

    'The celebrations included traditional dancing, singing and public demonstrations of the Falun Gong exercises. Activities in most cities also carried a sobering message, as speeches and pictorial exhibitions revealed details of the violent, on-going persecution of Falun Gong in China.'
  • Olympic Watch Issues Press Release on World Falun Dafa Day

    Prague, March 19th 2004 – On the occasion of Falun Dafa Day, Olympic Watch (Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games in a Free and Democratic Country) has issued a statement today, condemning religious persecution in the People’s Republic of China. Olympic Watch was established in Prague in 2001. Its mission is to monitor the human rights situation in China in the run-up to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and to campaign to achieve improvements in the lives of the people of China.
  • UK FGIC Press Release - Falun Gong Celebrations in Trafalgar Square as Visiting Chinese Minister is Accused of Human Rights Crimes

    In sharp contrast to the happy celebrations in Trafalgar Square, Bo Xilai, China’s Minister of Commerce, who visits London this weekend, will find that legal proceedings have been initiated against him by UK Falun Gong practitioners for his crimes of torture against fellow Falun Gong practitioners in China. The Metropolitan Police at New Scotland Yard accepted the formal allegation made against Bo Xilai for serious crimes and a request for his arrest upon arrival in the UK by issuing a Crime Number.
  • EFGIC: 31-year-old Woman Beaten to Death for Falun Gong Practice

    LONDON (EFGIC) – On April 1st, 2004, Chinese police ransacked the home of Ms. Huang Zhao and her husband, stealing valuables and detaining the couple who both practise Falun Gong. Two weeks later, Huang was dead. Witnesses say by the second day of her detention, Huang had been severely beaten and could no longer walk.
  • FGIC (UK): World Press Freedom Day Spotlights China as the World’s Leading Jailer of Journalists

    LONDON (FGIC-UK) – From the 139 countries observed for press freedom in 2002, China ranked second to last. The Independent Committee to Protect Journalists named Jiang Zemin in the Top Ten Worst Enemies of the Press for five years in a row for exercising the Communist Party's obsessive control over information. This has been partly enforced via harsh prison sentences that have now made China the world's leading jailer of journalists.
  • EFGIC: Brutalized Body Shows Evidence of Torture in China

    LONDON (EFGIC) – With his mouth blackened from repeated shocks from a cattle prod, a square piece of flesh missing from his heal and a body covered in black and blue patches, Mr. Li Yinglin was released by Chinese police only to die six days later from his injuries.