NEWS -- Apr. 29, 2003 Falun Dafa Information Center, www.faluninfo.net

NEW YORK (FDI) -- Inside sources in China have reported the deaths of 12 more Falun Gong practitioners, raising the total confirmed dead in the Jiang regime's persecution of Falun Gong to 673. With the regime's tactics of lying to hide unpleasant news from leaking out made tragically clear to the world in the cover-up of the SARS epidemic, the true number of Falun Gong deaths is surely many times greater.

Individuals who have exposed the illegal detention, torture and deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in Chinese police custody have been charged with "leaking state secrets," and sentenced to prison terms or held in detention and tortured themselves.

The following Falun Gong practitioners were recently confirmed dead. The available names and phone numbers of those responsible for the deaths of these 12 people are included below:

• Ms. Liu Shumin, tortured to death with electric batons
• Yang Cheng, one of many practitioners tortured to death in Maoming City, Guangdong Province
• Ms. Zhou Biru, a 55 year-old from Pengzhou City, Sichuan Province, died two weeks after being arrested for her practice of Falun Gong
• Mr. Guo Jiaxiang, an elderly man from Linfen City, Shanxi Province, was found dead after police raided his home and beat him
• Mr. Liu Zaofeng, a farmer from Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, who died shortly after "release" from detention. Police try to cover up their brutality and say cause of death was tuberculosis
• Ms. Gao Shuhua, a practitioner in her 40's from Weifang City, Shandong Province, died from police force-feeding
• Mr. Yao Sanzhong, a 34 year-old university graduate from Luohe City, Henan Province
• Ms. Bo Shihua, a practitioner from Shandong Province, died in a forced labor camp
• Ms. Dong Cuifang, 29, whose body bore marks of her brutal torture
• Ms. Zheng Lanfeng, 39, died from torture in forced labor camp
• Ms. Chen Xingtao, 40, paralyzed from beatings in a detention center
• Ms. Zhang Xiaoru, 50, died after a week of detention

Liu Shumin was arrested in Tianjin in 2001 and taken to the 5th Brigade of the Banqiao Labor Camp, where she was forced to perform hard labor every day. In mid-January 2003, several Falun Gong practitioners in the camp decided to protest their illegal detention by going on a hunger strike. The police, led by a particular guard surnamed Kou, attempted to force practitioners back to work by beating and shocking them with electric batons. Several practitioners were injured, including Liu Shumin, who died very soon thereafter.

In attempts to avoid responsibility for their actions, labor camp officials declared that Liu Shumin died from a heart attack and forbade her family members to see her body.

In the Meihua Police Station in Maoming City, Guangdong Province, a practitioner named Yang Cheng was illegally detained and then beaten to death in April 2001 by a police officer named Liang Zheng.

On the morning of January 30th, 2002, Mrs. Zhou Biru was preparing a meal for her family at her home in Jiulong Town, Pengzhou City. Zhao Gukai and other police from the Guankou Police Station forced her to open the door and let them in. They proceeded to beat her, falsely claiming that Ms. Zhou had "attacked" them. They looted her home and took her to the city detention center. A week later, her family was told to come and take her home. Ms. Zhou, who was previously very healthy, was in terrible health upon returning home, and died just a week later. Her family did not dare to give out details about her death for fear of reprisal from the police.

Guo Jiaxiang was a man in his 60's who worked at a chemical plant in Linfen City, Shanxi Province. In July 1999 when the persecution of Falun Gong commenced, armed police rushed into his workplace and confiscated his Falun Dafa books. Although he tried to protect the books with his life, he was no match for the policemen. According to witnesses, he cried out loudly. The next day, July 21, 1999, he was found dead at his home in the chemical plant residence complex.

Mr. Liu Zaofeng was a farmer in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province. He was detained in Shijiazhuang City because he practiced Falun Gong and died from torture on July 1st, 2002. The Daming County Public Security Bureau recently confirmed his death and that he was a farmer, but refused to reveal where he was detained or where he was from. Although they admitted that he died soon after returning home from where he was detained, they claimed that he died from tuberculosis, a common ploy to relieve themselves of responsibility for their beating practitioners to the edge of death.

Mrs. Gao Shuhua, a middle-aged woman from Weifang City in Shandong Province, was illegally detained on March 13th, 2003, while handing out materials about Falun Gong. She was detained in the Shuiku "Re-Education" Center, where she was tortured both mentally and physically. She attempted a hunger strike to protest her illegal detention, and was force-fed brutally as a result. Badly wounded from repeated beatings, she died from on March 27th, 2003. Mrs. Gao's husband is also currently in detention at the Changle Labor Camp in Weifang City.

Yao Sanzhong was a 34 year-old university graduate who resided in Luohe City in Henan Province. The local "610" Office sentenced him to 3 years in the Xuchang Forced Labor Camp. He was tortured nearly to the point of death. In December 2002, fearing his death while in their custody, Xuchang Labor Camp staff took Mr. Yao and dumped him, alone and close to death, on the side of a road in a distant unfamiliar city. His family got word of this and had him sent to a hospital for emergency treatment even though it would cost them thousands of Yuan per day. Despite their efforts to save him, Mr. Yao passed away in mid-January.

After Mr. Yao's death, the Luohe City "610" Office placed Mr. Yao's wife and child under strict surveillance in attempts to keep the story of their crimes from being told.

Ms. Bo Shihua lived in the Laiwu Iron Group Residence in Shandong Province. She was sent to the Shandong No.2 Labor Camp, and later to the Wangcun Female Labor Camp because she practiced Falun Gong. She was later confined to a group brainwashing "class" near where she lived, administered by the local "610" Office. There Ms. Bo was physically and psychologically abused to the point of having a mental breakdown. She passed away in March 2003.

Dong Cuifang, a 29 year-old female resident of Gaocheng City, Hebei Province, was a medical student at a university in Shijiazhuang City when she began to practice Falun Gong. She went to Tiananmen Square many times to appeal for justice for Falun Gong, and was constantly harassed by police for doing so.

In the Spring of 2002, Ms. Dong was arrested while handing out flyers and sent to the Daxing Forced Labor Camp in Beijing. She died from torture on March 20th, 2003, ten minutes after being delivered to a hospital for emergency treatment. Her body was black and blue all over, and sources report a hole in her head (it's not certain whether this was caused by a bullet or by some other weapon). The Hebei Security Bureau notified Ms. Dong's family of the news, claiming that Ms. Dong died from a mental collapse.

Ms. Zheng Lanfeng, 39, lived in Chifeng City in Inner Mongolia. She was sent to the Tumuji Labor Camp at the end of 2000 and forced to perform hard labor for a year because she would not give up her practice of Falun Gong.

On February 11th, 2003, Hongshan District police officers arrested her while she was handing out flyers. On February 28th, she died from torture. Her body was sent to the Chifeng No.3 Hospital. Her family came and saw that her body was black and blue from intense beatings, yet guards forbade anyone from touching Ms. Zheng's body, and followed her family with two police cars, even to the funeral.

Ms. Chen Xingtao lived in Yanglin Village, situated in Yueyang County, Hunan Province. On January 31st, 2001, she was confined to the Baimalong Female Labor Camp in Hunan Province because of her refusal to renounce her faith in Falun Gong. Ms. Chen's legs were paralyzed after the beatings she received. Crippled, she was released on May 17th, 2001, and after a year of suffering, she passed away on May 27th, 2002.

An employee of the Handan Daily Editorial Department, Ms. Zhang Xiaoru lived in Handan City, Hebei Province. She left her home to escape persecution by the "610" Office in 2001, and had no home of her own for two years. On February 27th, 2003, while handing out flyers, Ms. Zhang was arrested by the Puyang City Public Security Bureau in Henan Province. She died a week later from the brutal torture inflicted on her.

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NEWS -- Apr. 29, 2003

Falun Dafa Information Center, www.faluninfo.net

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa (about), is a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." It is a practice that was taught in private for thousands of years before being made public in 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi. Falun Gong has roots in traditional Chinese culture, but it is distinct and separate from other practices such as the religions of Buddhism and Taoism. Since its introduction in 1992, it quickly spread by word of mouth throughout China, and is now practiced in over 50 countries.

With government estimates of as many as 100 million practicing Falun Gong, China's then-president Jiang Zemin outlawed the peaceful practice in July 1999 (report), fearful of anything touching the hearts and minds of more citizens than the Communist Party. Unable to crush the spirit of millions who had experienced improved health and positive life changes from Falun Gong, Jiang's regime has intensified its propaganda campaign to turn public opinion against the practice while quietly imprisoning, torturing and even murdering those who practice it.

The Falun Dafa Information Center has verified details of 673 deaths (reports / sources) since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. Government officials inside China, however, report that the actual death toll is well over 1,600, while expert sources estimate that figure to be much higher. Hundreds of thousands have been detained, with more than 100,000 being sentenced to forced labor camps, typically without trial.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER -- Gail Rachlin 917-501-4441, Levi Browde 914-720-0963, Erping Zhang 646-533-6147, or Feng Yuan 917-941-1097. Email: [email protected], Website: http://www.faluninfo.net/