Two More Dead as Chinese Police Continue Crackdown

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 4/5/2002 [ http://www.faluninfo.net/ ]

NEW YORK, April 5, 2002 (Falun Dafa Information Center) - Two more deaths were reported by sources in China yesterday in the ongoing persecution against Falun Gong practitioners, one seemingly related to the March 5th cable TV broadcast incident in Changchun City which has led to mass arrests and numerous deaths in custody.

Badly Beaten Man Sent Home To Die

Mr. Hu Hexiong was a Falun Gong practitioner from Qinhuangdao City in Hebei Province. Mr. Hu had been arrested and detained three times since the persecution of Falun Gong began. His first arrest was in 1999, after he had bicycled more than 100 miles to Beijing to lodge an appeal for Falun Gong. He was subsequently detained for about one year.

Failing in their attempts to coerce Mr. Hu into signing documents publicly denouncing Falun Gong during his first and second detentions, police came to his home on July 19, 2001 and arrested him for no apparent reason. While in custody, the guards directed inmates to beat him without restraint, breaking two of his ribs and causing severe internal injuries, sources related. Attempting to shirk responsibility for the ultimate result of Hu's steadily deteriorating condition, prison officials escorted him back to his home on December 12, 2001. Local sources report that police, seeing no one was present in the house, "dumped Mr. Hu on the bed and left." Mr. Hu never recovered from the injuries sustained in police custody. He died on January 28, 2002.

Body Thrown From 6th Floor, Dumped At Bus Station

An unidentified man was beaten to death by officials from the Jilin City Public Security Bureau on March 5, the day that cable television stations in the area were interrupted by a surprise broadcast revealing facts about China's illegal persecution of Falun Gong. To mask the death as a suicide, police officials allegedly threw the already dead body from a window on the sixth floor of the bureau's office building. The body was then taken to a local bus station and left there, according to reports from the area.

Chinese police have long been known to cover up evidence of brutality and torture by faking the suicide of their prisoners. President Jiang himself has been reported to have ordered all Falun Gong deaths to be recorded as suicides. However, eyewitness accounts suggest that many victims were still alive when police threw them from a tall building or a moving train or car. All were reported as "suicides."

Background

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." It is a practice that was taught in private for thousands of years before being made public in 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi. Falun Gong has roots in traditional Chinese culture, but it is distinct and separate from other practices in China, such as the religions of Buddhism and Taoism. Since its introduction in 1992, it quickly spread by word of mouth throughout China, and is now practiced in over 50 countries.

With government estimates of as many as 100 million practicing Falun Gong, China's President Jiang Zemin outlawed the peaceful practice in July 1999, fearful of anything touching the hearts and minds of more citizens than the Communist Party. Unable to crush the spirit of millions who had experienced improved health and positive life changes from Falun Gong, Jiang's regime has intensified its propaganda campaign to turn public opinion against the practice while quietly imprisoning, torturing and even murdering those who practice it.

The Falun Dafa Information Center has verified details of over 390 deaths since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. Government officials inside China, however, report that the actual death toll is well over 1,600. Over 100,000 have been detained, with more than 20,000 being sentenced to forced labor camps without trial.

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