Simon Sigal

June 1, 2001, Friday

I could not believe journalists and others who visited the labour camp containing Falun Gong practitioners in China found everything so nice and comfortable.

It reminds me of the visit of the International Red Cross to Theriesenstadt during the Second World War. The Nazis invited the Red Cross to tour the concentration camp to demonstrate to the world how well the Jews were being treated. The camp was made to look beautiful - the inmates were well dressed and had been fed for some time before the visit, so they all looked healthy and happy. There was a concert by the inmates and the Red Cross came back with glowing reports.

It wasn't long before all of these inmates were dead: this was an extermination camp.

It makes one wonder about this "nice" labour camp visit that the Chinese so carefully orchestrated.

Simon Sigal, Ottawa