Celebrating
World Falun Dafa Day in France
May
13, 2009, is the tenth World Falun Dafa Day. On May 10, 2009,
practitioners in France held a series of activities to celebrate this
day just as they have done in previous years at the Eiffel Tower in
Paris. The celebration featured traditional singing and dancing, a
Falun Gong exercise demonstration, Chinese calligraphy, and folding
paper lotus flowers. Tourists from around the world and residents in
Paris were deeply impressed by the event. They watched and joined the
practitioners' joyous celebration of the great day.
Practitioners in France celebrate the tenth World Falun Dafa Day |
Falun Gong exercise demonstration in France |
Practitioners do the exercise in unison |
Divine Land Marching Band performs |
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A variety of art performances held to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day. |
(right) Signing to condemn the Chinese Communist Party persecution of Falun Gong |
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| People watch the rally celebrating World Falun Dafa Day |
Helsinki:
Exposing the CCP's Live Organ Harvesting at an International Medical
Conference
The
19th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
(ECCMID) was held at the Helsinki Exhibition and Convention Centre in
the Finnish capital from May 16 to 19, 2009, with over 7,000 doctors
from all over the world in attendance. Falun Gong practitioners in
Finland came to the venue to distribute leaflets exposing the Chinese
Communist Party's (CCP) hideous crime of organ harvesting from living
Falun Gong practitioners.
Practitioners
called out to the doctors, "Come see what is happening in
Chinese hospitals. The CCP is committing an appalling crime. Please
help stop them!"
A
lot of doctors accepted the leaflet and read it over. Many came over
to the practitioners' display to make further inquiries.
One
doctor said to us, "We saw your leaflet and we are all talking
about it."
A
doctor from Qatar accepted the leaflet and said, "I know Falun
Gong. Now I know why organ transplants are so cheap in China. My
brother has kidney disease and needs a transplant. But we will not go
to China [for a transplant] because innocent people will become
victims."
Two
doctors asked while reading the leaflets, "Do they kill the
practitioners first before taking their organs?" A practitioner
answered, "No. Organs are harvested while the victims are still
alive. This was exposed by a doctor who extracted 2,000 corneas from
living people himself!"
A
young doctor did not quite understand what was going on. A Chinese
practitioner told her, "In China there is a terrible crime being
committed. Innocent people are forced to have their organs harvested
alive to meet the demand of wealthy patients. In 2001 when the mother
of a good friend of mine obtained a kidney transplant, a dozen
patients in her ward with similar diseases received kidney
transplants one after another around the same time. Where did all
those kidneys come from?" Before the practitioner could finish,
the doctor offered, "There must be a live kidney bank!"
Initially,
some doctors questioned the contents of the leaflets, asking, "Is
this true?" Practitioners answered, "Go have a look on the
Internet. Some Chinese hospitals advertised: 'Come and get a kidney
transplants at our hospital. We guarantee that you will be back at
work within a fortnight!'" Upon hearing this, the doctors shook
their heads in disgust.
Some
doctors confirmed that organ harvesting was being practiced in China.
They knew people from many countries who went to China for
transplants with incredibly fast organ matching. Some needed to re-do
the transplants after the Chinese operation failed.
Many
doctors who learned the facts commended the practitioners for their
efforts to expose this crime.
During
the congress, doctors often came out of the venue to enjoy the
sunshine. Watching practitioners busily distributing leaflets, one of
them came over and said, "How can we help?" A practitioner
answered, "Learn more and speak out! Demand an independent
investigation into the CCP's organ harvesting!"
United
Kingdom: Practitioners Celebrate World Falun Dafa Day and Gain
Support from the British People in Calling for an End to the CCP's
Persecution
Falun Dafa practitioners in the UK wish Master a happy birthday |
May
13, 2009 was the 17th Anniversary of Falun Dafa's public introduction and also "World
Falun Dafa Day." On May 9, Falun Gong practitioners from the UK
gathered in front of the National Gallery in
downtown London to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day. They also
explained the facts about the practice and the persecution and
collected signatures. Many people signed the petition calling on the
international community to investigate the CCP's atrocities of
harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners and calling
for an end of the CCP persecution. In just one day, approximately 900
people signed the petition expressing their support.
On
Saturday, May 9, at 10 a.m., World Falun Dafa Day activities were
held on the square in front of the British National Gallery, which
is very close to Trafalgar Square, a well-known place of interest in
the UK At the centre of the square in front of the National Gallery,
several practitioners held a large banner worded in both Chinese and
English: "Celebrate the 17th Anniversary of Falun Dafa's Public Introduction." An arc of
balloons in different colours were set above the banner. Another
banner in English reading "5.13 World Falun Dafa Day"
floated under a hydrogen balloon high in the air. Over 20 Falun Gong
practitioners in yellow costumes demonstrated the five exercises in
front of the banners. Many passersby stopped and watched the exercise
demonstration. Some followed the gestures of these practitioners to
learn the exercises and asked for contact information of practice
sites, saying they were interested in learning Falun Gong.
Vice
President of European Parliament: "It is Time to Put the Chinese
Communist Regime on Trial for Genocide"
The
Vice-President of the European Parliament, Mr Edward McMillan-Scott,
organised "The Silent Genocide" press conference at
London's Foreign Press Association recently. He invited experts on
China, scholars, as well as Falun Gong practitioners who personally
suffered persecution, to expose the genocidal crimes of the Chinese
Communist regime's organ harvesting from living Falun Gong
practitioners.
At
the press conference, Mr Scott described his fact-finding visit to
Beijing three years ago. At the end of his speech, he said: "My
investigation, my contacts and my experience all make me feel that
the Chinese Communist totalitarian regime has persecuted Falun Gong,
this innocent and kind group, for ten years. I think it is time to
put the Chinese Communist regime on trial for genocide. I firmly
believe that what we are doing today should be carried out in every
city of the world and every day until justice is served."
"The
Silent Genocide" press conference in London |
On
the tenth anniversary of the "April 25" peaceful appeal by
ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing, this press
conference formed part of the European Parliament's campaign
demanding that the Chinese Communist regime stop its persecution of
Falun Gong. Invited speakers at the conference included China expert
and the author of book Losing
the New China Mr Ethan Gutmann, renowned British cardiothoracic surgeon Professor
Tom Treasure, Ms Tina Lambert from Christian Solidarity Worldwide and
Falun Gong practitioner Annie Yang, who was illegally imprisoned and
tortured by the Chinese Communist regime. She said: "People
should stop this evil persecution."
Vice-President
of the European Parliament: the Chinese Communist regime is
committing genocide against Falun Gong practitioners
Vice-President
of the European Parliament, Mr Edward McMillan-Scott, pointed out
that the crime committed by the Chinese Communist regime in its ten
year long persecution of Falun Gong is genocide. He said: "The
atrocity of the Chinese Communist regime's organ harvesting from
living Falun Gong practitioners has been exposed, in great detail, in
the joint
investigative report in 2006 by the former Canadian Foreign Secretary of State
(Asia-Pacific region) David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David
Matas. At present, this report has been translated and published in
sixteen languages."
In
his opening speech, Mr Scott described his fact-finding visit to
Beijing three years ago: "I am here today because I visited
China three years ago. As the longest serving member of the European
Parliament, I also visited China many times before that. At that
time, I was preparing a report on human rights, freedom and democracy
for the European Commission. I held a meeting with two former
prisoners of conscience, Niu Jinping and Cao Dong. Both of them are
Falun Gong practitioners. The two were both imprisoned before and
were released. Niu Jinping came to me for help regarding his wife.
His wife Zhang Lianying was imprisoned in the Beijing Women's Forced
Labour Camp then. He said his wife was severely tortured and lost her
hearing. A few months later she was finally released and wrote me a
letter, describing in detail how she suffered over fifty different
torture methods in the labour camp."
Mr
Scott continued: "Regrettably, in the further repressive
movement before the Beijing Olympics, Niu Jinping and his wife were
imprisoned again. Cao Dong and his wife are both Falun Gong
practitioners and they are also both imprisoned. Cao Dong is
imprisoned in Northern China where people involved in the 1989
Tiananmen student movement were detained. Cao Dong told me that one
evening his best friend disappeared from the prison cell. When he saw
his friend again, it was in the prison morgue. There were lots of
holes in his body. Many of his organs had been taken."
Mr
Scott indicated that the purpose of this press conference is to raise
people's awareness about China's human rights situation. He said:
"Everyone I was in contact with in Beijing was later arrested
and imprisoned. Some of them were even tortured. Some have been
imprisoned until now. In view of this, we will hold a series of
activities in the European Parliament or other places."
He
said: "I already wrote a letter to the General Secretary of the
United Nations, urging the UN to carry out a careful investigation
into the persecution suffered by Falun Gong in China. According to
the definition of genocide in Article 2 of the UN's Human Rights
Treaty, the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China has already
qualified as genocide. This is also the reason we organised today's
press conference."
China
expert: the Chinese Communist regime has been systematically trading
organs from Falun Gong practitioners for exorbitant profits through
black markets
China
expert and the author of book Losing
the New China,
Mr Ethan Gutmann, has been carrying out research about the
persecution of Falun Gong for several years. He is currently
preparing to write a special book about the persecution of Falun Gong
based on his own research. He reported his findings at the press
conference.
He
said: "The Western media underestimated from the very beginning
the scale of the "war" the Chinese Communist regime
initiated against Falun Gong. The Western media shared the regime's
initial thinking: this war would be over in a very short time and
Falun Gong would "disappear". But on the contrary, Falun
Gong has not disappeared. However thousands of Falun Gong
practitioners have died as a result of the persecution in the war by
the Chinese Communist regime."
Mr
Gutmann continued: "Two years ago I started investigating and
researching this conflict between the Chinese Communist regime and
Falun Gong. I interviewed hundreds of people. About half of them were
Falun Gong practitioners who personally experienced imprisonment in
the jails and labour camps of the Chinese Communist regime. What
puzzled me is that about thirty per cent of Falun Gong practitioners
described to me their experiences of going through unconventional
health checks. All the tests were unusually concentrated on the
kidney, the liver, eyes and sometimes the heart. These examinations
were usually unnecessary and moreover quite expensive. Comparing
these facts with tens of thousands organ transplant cases carried out
in recent years in China whose sources could not be explained and the
high organ prices in the international black markets, then the
reasonable explanation is that the Chinese Communist regime has been
systematically trading organs from Falun Gong practitioners for
exorbitant profits through black markets.
"How
many Falun Gong practitioners have been harvested for their organs?
China's 610 Office estimated that there were 70 million Falun Gong
practitioners. According to the Laogai Research Foundation, the
Chinese Communist regime's labour camp system has imprisoned about
four million people, about half of them Falun Gong practitioners.
According to my estimation, at least 87,000 Falun Gong practitioners
have had their organs harvested by the Chinese Communist regime in
these years.
"When
the atrocity of the organ harvesting from the living people was
exposed in 2006, regrettably, the Western media were unwilling to
touch this topic. It is obvious that they don't want to think about
this issue. But the facts are there. Anybody may go and carry out an
investigation. But it is puzzling that nobody wants to do this. I am
startled to discover that our investigation is the first in the
world. All Falun Gong practitioners I interviewed, particularly those
Falun Gong practitioners applying for refugee status in Thailand –
the great majority of them have never been interviewed. Without
doubt, this is a great shame to the Western world."
Renowned
cardiothoracic surgeon: the report about organ harvesting from living
people describes a true and horrific fact
Renowned
British cardiothoracic surgeon Professor Tom Treasure described, at
the press conference, his views on the organ harvesting from living
people occurring in China.
He
said: "I read the report by Kilgour and Matas. The descriptions
in the report are truly horrific. But as a surgeon who knows well the
international organ transplantation situation, after reading the
report, I find that many aspects are similar to what I have learned,
such as the large number of organ transplants. It is very easy for
patients to reserve their organs in China. Moreover the number of
organ transplants and the donor sources that can possibly be produced
in normal conditions in China can't be matched at all. Thus their
report can be said to describe a true and horrific fact.
"What
impressed me the most is that the number of organ transplants is far
larger than reasonable. Moreover, they can satisfy patients' needs
and deliver organs in a timely fashion. Lastly aside from the
numbers, there are also other facts that are very convincing and
can't be neglected.
"I
will talk about one now. A few years ago, when I was the president of
the European Heart Surgeons Association, I often met colleagues from
the US, Asia and Europe at international conferences. The one topic
we talked about was surgery demonstration; that is, whether it is
ethical to show the real surgery in the classroom. An American
surgeon told me: 'Once I was invited to carry out a lung surgery
demonstration in China.' To do surgery demonstration in the
conference requires fixing the surgery time in advance. However it is
not possible to fix organ transplantation time because the
availability of the organ source is not certain. So he replied: 'It
is impossible for you to do that.' But the Chinese side said: 'We
definitely can.'" Professor Treasure concluded: "To me,
this is a solid fact that can finally prove the case, very very
convincing.
Representative
from the Christian Solidarity Worldwide: Chinese Communist regime's
suppression policy will never succeed
Ms
Tina Lambert from the Christian Solidarity Worldwide introduced to
the press conference the Chinese Communist regime's persecution of
religion and human rights.
She
said: "The Chinese Communist regime has been unscrupulously
carrying out various persecutions against beliefs that it considers
not under its control, from financial fines, harassment, tearing down
property, imprisonment and torture. But it has not succeeded."
She
cited an example: "For example the regime has pursued a
relentless and brutal persecution against Falun Gong for ten years.
Still, Falun Gong does not submit to its suppression. This makes the
regime very afraid."
She
concluded: "It is essential that the international community
holds this kind of public hearing and exerts continuous pressure on
the Chinese Communist regime. I thank all the people involved in
organising this conference. In China, communism has no way to provide
solutions for the social crisis. Not only have religious beliefs not
been exterminated in China, they have been strengthened. The Chinese
Communist regime's policy of suppression will never succeed."
Falun
Gong Practitioner in Germany Faces Lies and Subterfuge in Effort to
Get Passport Renewed at Chinese Embassy
Falun Dafa practitioner Rong Chen |
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My
name is Rong Chen; I am a Falun Gong practitioner with a Chinese
passport, living in Germany. A while ago, my passport was due to
expire, so I attempted to renew it. However, many working days had
passed and still the Embassy had not given me a new passport, without
any excuse. Therefore I have been residing in Germany without any
legal certification for one month.
The
whole saga:
My
passport expired on April 18, 2009, so I handed all the documents
needed for a new passport to the Frankfurt Chinese Embassy on Friday,
March 6, 2009. According to the Chinese Embassy, it takes fifteen
working days to issue a new passport. When I went to the Chinese
Embassy on April 2, four weeks later, and paid the 55 Euro fee for
renewing a passport, I was told that they hadn't yet cleared it.
Afterwards, I went there every week to ask for my new passport. Two
months have passed now, the Chinese Embassy has made the excuse of a
delayed process so as to not issue me a passport.
On April 2, 2009, Rong
Chen paid a fifty-five euro fee for renewing a passport at the German
Frankfurt Chinese Embassy. Above is the Receipt.
The
following week, week five of the saga (April 9), I went to the
Chinese Embassy and was told that the passport wasn't yet done. In
reply I said, "My passport will expire on April 18, if you don't
give me a passport, then please give me proof.'' The clerk who worked
in the passport window said, "We didn't say that we would not
give it to you; when it's done we will give it to you.'' I asked his
name, he said, "It's not convenient to tell you.'' I said my
friend had his passport renewed within one week. He said, "Normally
three weeks, but some could take five weeks, or six weeks.'' I said,
"It's already five weeks, can I get it next week?'' He said, "I
can't guarantee it, it's not only me who is working on it.'' I said,
"When the expiration date is passed, I don't have legal status
to stay in Germany, please give me some proof saying that the
passport is in the process of being renewed.'' He told me that the
receipt of payment is proof enough.
On
the sixth week (April 16), I went to fetch it again. Again he told me
that it was not done. Again I asked him to give me proof saying that
the passport is in the process of being re-issued. The man then said,
"We can't give you proof. It doesn't matter even if the passport
expired.'' I said, "Hopefully it is true that my passport hasn't
finished being re-issued.'' He then said to me, "You ask what
the reason is? The reason is because of you."
On
the seventh week (April 20), I again went to get it; the excuse was
still the same. On the eighth week (April 28), I went again. A lady
in the queue before me told the clerk that her passport would expire
in one month, and she wanted to fast track the process. She was told
that she did not need go fast track as it could be done in three
weeks. When it was my turn, he still told me that: "Your
passport isn't finished.'' I asked, "Why do others get it in
three weeks?, it has taken eight weeks for me, do you mean you don't
want to give it to me?'' He said, "We didn't say that we would
not give it to you, the problem is that it hasn't yet reached my
hands.'' I said, "All these reasons don't add up. Anyway, who is
in charge of this matter?'' He replied, "I am in charge.'' I
said, "You won't even give me your name, how can you say that
you are responsible?"
On
the ninth week (May 7), I went there again. The same man saw that I
had arrived in the window. He immediately left the desk and didn't
come out until ten minutes later. He said to me from a distance,
"Yours hasn't been done yet." I asked his name again. He
said, "I have the right not to tell you." I asked to see
his superior. He let me make an appointment and we agreed to have a
meeting at 10:00 a.m. the next Wednesday (May 13).
On
May 13, after arriving, I was asked by the man in charge of passports
to go to the office. I rang the bell outside the door. After being
asked, I told the person in the office the reason why I came there
and then was asked to wait for a while. I was then told to go to the
passport window. When I went there and asked, "Am I supposed to
see your superior here?" The man said, "You don't need to
wait any more. Let me tell you that your passport was sent back to
the authority that initially issued it, because it hasn't been
approved. There are different scenarios in different areas." I
said, "Then please give me a certificate." I said. He
replied, "I won't get you any certificate. There has been no
such case before." I said, "It has been delayed for too
long a time." He said, "It is still normal for it to take
even up to one year. You should have come a bit earlier." I told
him that I came quite early, and now I can't go abroad to attend a
Falun Gong conference because I have no passport. He said, "How
dare you say that here. You are too bold!" So, I said, "Why?
It's my right to say that." I then asked for his name, his
superior's name and who the immigration office should contact if it's
going to send a letter. I said, "Don't be afraid. A lot of
officials work here with their name cards hung in front of their
chests." He replied, "I am not afraid. You can ask them to
write to the passport team." I asked, "Who should the
letter be sent to, since there might be a lot of people in the
passport team?" He replied, "Only me, one person in the
team. I am the man in charge. When the passport is ready, I will
phone you to tell you come and take it."
What
a high-sounding lie! As an overseas organisation that represents a
country, they don't even dare to be open about the true reason why
they can't issue a passport. And their superior doesn't even dare to
see me, let me know his name or give me a certificate. What on earth
is the reason that the Chinese Consulate will not give me my
passport? I think it could only be that I practice Falun Gong. The
Chinese Communist Party has been persecuting Falun Gong for ten
years. One of the overseas persecution policies is refusing to issue
Falun Gong practitioners' passports. They deprive practitioners of
citizenship and then conceal the truth with the lie that they didn't
get the passport ready in order to avoid criticism from the outside
world. Everyone can see that the evil party is going down a dead end.
I
sincerely hope that the officials in the Chinese Consulate not do
evil by helping the CCP to violate their conscience for personal gain
in the present. I hope they will instead choose to be really
responsible for their own lives, treat Falun Dafa and the
practitioners with respect and quit the evil Party.
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