(Clearwisdom.net) On March 6, 2003, Cook County Board of Commissioners in Illinois held a meeting and unanimously passed a resolution sponsored by two commissioners and cosponsored by eight commissioners to support the rescue of Falun Gong practitioners' family members. Cook County ranks No. 1 in the State of Illinois in terms of area and population. It contains 133 municipalities including the most well known City of Chicago.

Representative of Falun Gong practitioners gives a three-minute speech

During group Fa-study and discussion, Dafa practitioners in Chicago realized that all Dafa practitioners are one body. Overseas rescue efforts can reduce the persecution of Dafa practitioners in Mainland China and expose and eliminate the evil. Successful rescue efforts and the support we gain are the result of our utilizing the forms that exist in society to completely reject the old forces and offer salvation.

In addition to contacting the media and making phone calls, part of our rescue effort is to clarify the truth to governmental departments. Since the end of last year, Chicago practitioners have been clarifying the facts about Falun Dafa to officials in Cook County. Several Chicago practitioners' family members are being detained in China, or suffered beatings or had their passports confiscated. This January, American citizen Charles Li was illegally arrested and detained. All these cases shocked government officials.

On March 6, a resolution that supports Falun Gong to rescue their family members sponsored by two commissioners and cosponsored by eight commissioners was unanimously passed.

The resolution mentioned that Falun Gong is an individual belief based on "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." It suffers brutal suppression in China. American citizens and permanent residents were also arbitrarily detained and tortured. This is against basic human rights. The Rescue Our Family Members campaign has had great support from the Canadian government and has successfully helped Canadian family members. The Irish government also helped Chinese overseas student there. Our County appealed to the Secretary of State to try harder to urge China to stop the persecution of Falun Gong and release all imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners. The American government should also investigate and stop China from harassing people on American soil. Any individual who participates in similar illegal actions should be punished according to the law.

A representative of Falun Gong practitioners gave a three-minute speech, introducing the commissioners and the media to the persecution Falun Gong practitioners suffer in China, and the situation of American citizen Charles Li. He expressed appreciation to Cook County Board of Commissioners for passing the resolution. We believe that the resolution will play an active role in rescuing all Falun Gong practitioners' family members including Charles Li.