Beijing Steps Up Falun Gong Persecution Ahead of Olympics

By Caylan Ford | The Epoch Times
April 02, 2008

Over 100 Falun Gong adherents reported tortured to death since January

As the Chinese regime's violent repression continues in Tibet, another group claims they too are experiencing heightened persecution.

Representatives of the Falun Gong spiritual practice say that, since January of this year the Chinese regime has tortured over 100 Falun Gong adherents to death, mostly in reeducation-through-labour camps.

The New York-based Falun Dafa Information Center claims to have received reports from inside China of over 1,878 arrests of Falun Gong adherents since January. The Centre says that authorities in at least 29 Chinese provinces have been conducting door-to-door sweeps in search of Falun Gong practitioners or anyone in possession of Falun Gong-related books or materials.

According to reports relayed by Falun Gong inside China, the Public Security Bureau has been offering cash rewards to citizens who turn in Falun Gong adherents. In one city in Shandong province, authorities have announced a reward of up to 3,000 Yuan for information leading to the arrest of a Falun Gong practitioner.

Once detained, the Falun Gong adherents are sent without trial to reeducation-through-labour camps, where reports indicate they face torture and other forms of abuse.

The Falun Gong website Minghui.org, which receives and compiles accounts of persecution from inside China, has reported that 129 Falun Gong adherents were tortured to death by authorities between January 1st and March 20th, 2008. The website provided a list and case details for each individual reported to have been killed.

Pretext for Repression

When bidding for the 2008 Games, the Vice-President of the Beijing Olympics committee, Liu Jingmin, promised the international community that awarding China the Games would "help develop human rights."

Yet internally, Chinese authorities expressed a very different understanding. According to a 2001 report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, China's former Vice Premier declared that winning the Olympics was "justification for the country's crackdown on the Falun Gong."

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