Falun Gong Practitioners Hold News Conference on Launch of Law Suit Against the Sing Tao Daily Newspaper
News
Release For immediate release: December 21, 2001 Toronto, December 21st, 2001 - Falun Gong practitioners, along
with legal counsel Mr. Rocco Galati, held a news conference today to give
details of a law suit that was filed on December 19th, 2001 in the
Superior Court of the Province of Ontario by 156 Falun Gong practitioners
against one of the world's largest overseas Chinese language newspapers, the
Sing Tao Daily. On September 20, 2001, a full-page spread, entitled "Radical religions
advocate destroying the world", published and distributed worldwide
in the Sing Tao Daily, carried photographs and commentary placing Falun Gong
with many reportedly violent and doomsday religious cults as well as with the
September 11th terrorist attacks that had occurred only 9 days
before. The law suit, now filed, charges libel, slander, negligence and incitement
of hatred. Plaintiffs include Falun Gong practitioners from different
provinces in Canada as well as those from Hong Kong who were shown in the
article's photograph. Shortly after the article's printing Falun Gong practitioners sent two
letters to the Sing Tao regarding the slanderous report. Lawyer Rocco Galati
sent another letter in October. The Sing Tao failed to respond satisfactorily.
Canadian law regarding slander allows only 3 months to file a law suit which
would give only until December 20th, 2001. Lawyer Rocco Galati stated today, "My clients have been very patient.
They have given the Sing Tao an opportunity to resolve this issue. However,
now they have no choice but to take legal action." The Statement of Claim filed with the court states, in part, "[the
Sing Tao] in publishing the expose did engage in inciting hatred against an
identifiable spiritual group which is contrary to the Criminal Code of
Canada...[they] are parties and co-conspirators in these hate crimes
and crimes against humanity for which civil liability arises." Falun Gong, was freely practiced in China before 1999 and was granted the Award
for Advancing Boundary Science, and Qigong Master Most Acclaimed by the
Masses in 1993. In 1996, Falun Gong's main book of teachings, Zhuan Falun,
was a national bestseller in China. However, Falun Gong has been the target of
a large-scale persecution and propaganda campaign since July 1999, after the
number of practitioners outnumbered the Communist Party membership. At the United Nations meeting in August 2001, International Education
Development (IED), a California-based human rights organisation stated,
"The government...attempted to justify its State terrorism against the
group [Falun Gong] by calling it an "evil cult" that has caused
deaths and the break-up of families. In our investigation, the only deaths
have been at the hands of the Chinese authorities; families have been broken
up because family members have been killed by the regime; people have been
broken down, not by Falun Gong, but by extreme torture, incarceration in
mental hospitals with brutal treatment, hard labour in labour camps and other
such practices." At least 326 deaths of Falun Gong practitioners due to torture and
mistreatment in custody have been confirmed, while sources in the Chinese
government reveal the true number of deaths at the hands of police exceeds
1600. Mr. Rocco Galati added, "Falun Gong is practiced in at least 53 other
countries and only in China is it being targeted with persecution and
propaganda...The entire world has condemned this persecution. The US Congress
and the European Parliament have passed resolutions. For the Sing Tao to stand
on the side of this persecution is unacceptable." In a November 2001 issue of China Brief, Washington DC based NGO,
the Jamestown Foundation, detailed efforts of the Chinese government to
influence Chinese-language media overseas in favour of the views and
directives of the Communist Party. On December 10, 2001, the Superior Court of Quebec Province, Canada, issued
a Court Order to Les Presses Chinoises Chinese-language newspaper in Montreal
to immediately cease from publishing articles slanderous to Falun Gong. It was
the first such decision in the world.
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