Monitoring News of the Persecution of Falun Gong

• PRACTITIONER DEAD AFTER MENTAL HOSPITAL INJECTIONS
• FAMILY ASKS "WHY?"; HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP PROTESTS KILLING
• CHINA MAKES NEW THREATS AGAINST THE INTERNET AND PRESS

#22: ANOTHER FALUN GONG PRACTITIONER KILLED IN CHINA

Su Gang Tortured in Mental Hospital; Human Rights Group, Family Outraged BEIJING (AP) -- A follower of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement died after his release from detention in a psychiatric hospital, where he was injected with nerve-destroying drugs, a human rights group said Sunday. Su Gang, a 32-year-old computer engineer, was in fine health before he was sent to the hospital on May 23 but was weak, slow, stiff-limbed and unable to eat when he was released eight days later, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said, quoting Su's father, Su De'an. Su died of heart failure on June 10, less than two weeks after his release, the Hong Kong-based Information Center said. While detained in the hospital, Su was forcibly given daily injections of nerve-damaging medicines, it said. The Information Center said at least 22 Falun Gong practitioners have died of mistreatment and other reasons since the Chinese government banned the group last July as a threat to public well being and to the authority of the ruling Communist Party.

BBC REPORTS HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER RESPONSE: A 'VIOLATION OF LAW, JUSTICE'

A member of the outlawed Chinese spiritual movement, Falun Gong, died after reportedly being given forced medication in a mental hospital. When the public security department persecutes normal people by putting them in a mental institute it completely violates the law and justice. The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, a Hong Kong-based human rights group says said Su Gang was placed in the hospital by police, although he had no mental problems. The centre said: "China has laws, if Su Gang broke the law then the public security department should prosecute, but when the public security department persecutes normal people by putting them in a mental institute it completely violates the law and justice."

SU GANG'S FAMILY APPEALS TO THE COMPANY HE WORKED FOR: "WHY?"

An Open Letter to the Authority of the Qi-Lu Oil Chemical Company regarding the Illegal Detention and Abuse of Mr. Su Gang in a Mental Hospital by the Security Department of the Alkene Plant:

As family members of Mr. Su Gang, we are writing to you after repeated failure to appeal to the authority of the Alkene Plant. We would like to communicate our thoughts regarding the fact that the security department of the Alkene Plant detained and abused Mr. Su Gang, a mentally normal person with noble moral character, in the mental hospital without notifying family members. Su Gang is regarded as a good person by those around him. The head of his work unit said that Su Gang was a good employee, always ready to take on hard work without any complaints. The leader of the Alkene Plant said that Su Gang got a salary raise because of his good work, despite the fact that he was a practitioner of Falun Gong, which was banned last July. The Party secretary, Wu Yun, said that around April 23, Su Gang was still doing important work on the computer system, and he looked fine. On May 20, Su Gang's father met him under the surveillance of the security members of his workplace. At that time, Su Gang still looked normal and healthy although he did not have much personal freedom. Many people assured us that Su Gang would not be sent to a mental hospital. (The full text of this document from China is posted at http://www.falundafa.org along with "The Truth Behind the Death of Mr. Su Gang" which reports that "In this year alone, Mr. Su had been arrested three times by the security department of his workplace, and had been detained for 130 days in total. Once he was detained for more than three months."

NEW THREATS AGAINST THE INTERNET AND THE PRESS ANNOUNCED

BEIJING, June 19 (AFP) - Chinese President Jiang Zemin has warned against the negative impact of the Internet and called for China's web surfers to be protected from distorted facts. "One thing must be ensured: that facts should not be distorted," Jiang said in an interview with US-based Science magazine seen in Beijing on Monday. "Otherwise people will wonder how to tell truth from distortion on the Internet," he said. Jiang did not specify in the interview how China intends to separate fact from fiction on the Internet, or how it will punish violators. But he said that China was planning new rules that will ensure the "healthy" development of science. "Advances in science must serve, not harm, humankind," he said. Unnerved by the free flow of information on the Internet, China's communist government has brought in blanket and draconian legislation aimed at controlling the country's growing army of web surfers... BEIJING, Jun 15, 2000 -- (AFP) China announced Wednesday greater controls on press freedom and warned the country's media their work must fall in line with the ideology of the ruling communist party. A Chinese Communist Party spokesman slammed publications for seeking to profit from racy news, failing to control public opinion and printing state and military secrets. The comments were made in an article which appeared in all China's major state-run newspapers on Wednesday.

For more information, visit http://www.falundafa.org

US FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER - Contacts: Gail Rachlin 212-501-8080, Erping Zhang 917-679-6944, Feng Yuan 917-734-6913, or Levi Browde 914-720-0963. Email: [email protected]