U.S. Secretary of State MIke Pompeo expressed his concern for Falun Gong in remarks given during the release of 2019's Report on International Religious Freedom on June 10th. The report contains details of Falun Gong practitioners' ordeals and facts that illustrate the ongoing persecution in China.
"And in China, state-sponsored repression against all religions continues to intensify," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during the press conference. He expressed dismay that the Chinese Communist Party continues "... the repression of Tibetans and Buddhists and Falun Gong and Christians."
Press Statement from Canadian Falun Dafa Association
The Falun Gong community in Canada condemns the 8-year prison sentence given to 54-year-old Canadian citizen and businesswoman, Ms. Sun Qian, on June 30 in Beijing. We call on Prime Minister Trudeau and the Canadian government to demand her unconditional release.
“The imprisonment and sentencing of Sun are a criminalization of her fundamental freedoms of conscience and belief,” stated Xun Li, President of the Falun Dafa Association of Canada. "...We have reports of her being shackled, handcuffed to a steel chair, pepper sprayed in the face, and kept under sustained brainwashing and psychological manipulation. News reports have detailed how the state coerced 11 lawyers to drop her case.” Said Xun Li.
28 practitioners are known to have died from the persecution in 2020
The Chinese Communist Party carried out two mass arrests of Falun Gong practitioners on June 14 and June 18. A 68-year-old woman taken by police during the raid died hours later while in custody. Hers is also among over 4,300 documented cases of Falun Gong practitioners who have died in China due to persecution since 1999. The actual number of those killed--including so that their organs can be used in transplant operations--is significantly higher.
"Amid the pandemic, the Chinese regime has stepped up efforts to arrest Falun Gong practitioners, not only for their faith, but also due to their ability to expose the true situation about the virus outbreak inside China” says Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center. "The CCP knows Falun Gong practitioners are proficient at exposing their lies, and so they are a primary target for repression.”
In May alone, almost 1,000 practitioners of Falun Gong were harassed by police, abducted and imprisoned, tortured, homes ransacked, extorted out of money, and more. This is a notable increase in the number of practitioners targeted on a monthly basis. 747 Falun Gong practitioners were targeted in March 2020, nearly twice the numbers reported in February (395) and four times the totals from January (194). 1,178 practitioners were targeted in April.
107 practitioners were sentenced to wrongful imprisonment between January and May 2020.
The 4th of July holds special meaning for American Falun Gong practitioners who were once imprisoned in China for their beliefs. "Although Americans enjoy the right to 'Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,' these rights simply do not exist in China," says Yuwei Zhang, a Falun Gong practitioner, research scientist, and Philadelphia resident who fled China to avoid another imprisonment, forcing her to leave behind her newborn daughter and husband.
"Each year that I play my waist drum in the Philadelphia Independence Day Parade, my mind flashes back 10 years... I was ... arrested by state security agents in China and locked in a small cell surrounded by male inmates."
Ms. Zhang is now reunited with her young family in the United States, where she takes part in the all-volunteer marching band organized by Falun Gong practitioners, although this year many parades are canceled due to the pandemic. Their floats, dances, costumes, and music are all made by donation, and are a celebration of Falun Gong as well as an expression of deep gratitude for the opportunity to build a new life in America.
A former Chinese state TV insider is held in a brainwashing camp and compelled to accept the official narrative on a fiery public suicide, which he believes was a government plot. Ask No Questions is a brand new documentary, released today.
“I have been mesmerized since I happened upon this. As close to Black Mirror as you’ll find in non-fiction. It is a topical, necessary, and important film.” - Slamdance Film Festival Programmer Jeffrey Radice
“Darkness must be exposed, and Ask No Questions can play a valuable role.”
– Chinese artist-activist Ai Weiwei
