12 Years of Persecution – Interview with Falun Gong Spokesman

“Throughout Chinese history we have never seen such a brutal persecution”

One of the largest campaigns against people of conscience in China is the persecution of Falun Gong. On July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party started a brutal crackdown against the spiritual group. Twelve years later and it’s still going on.

Here’s an NTD News story from July 20, 2011:

NTD Reporter Ben Hedges interviewed Erping Zhang, the spokesman of the official press office for Falun Gong—the “Falun Dafa Information Center”.

In this video Erping Zhang gives some insights about the persecution.

Interview with Erping Zhang, Spokesman of Falun Dafa Information Center:

The persecution of Falun Gong is severe and widespread in China

…He was walking home from a concert he gave. He was just grabbed by the secret police and they took him to a police station and they tortured him to death…”

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…when Jiang Zemin, the Communist Party’s Chief at that time, wished [ordered] the persecution in 1999, he started his campaign actually short of legal grounds and in fact this persecution itself is against the Chinese constitution, which has a clause for freedom of belief and freedom of conscience.

 Why is Falun Gong being persecuted? 

One scholar joked he said: ‘If everyone inside China will practice principles of truthfulness, compassion, tolerance, the Chinese Communist Party will no longer be there.’ Because what they have been doing over the years, they were lying about their own history.

New Round of Fake Emails from Chinese Regime to Discredit Falun Gong?

This news release was published yesterday by the Falun Dafa Information Center, the official press group for the Falun Gong (a.k.a. Falun Dafa) spiritual practice.

A new round of fraudulent emails was sent from suspected Chinese agents to elected officials, journalists and NGOs in Canada, the United States, France and Norway earlier this month. The emails’ senders deceptively claim to be representatives of the Falun Dafa Information Center, and the content of the messages is crafted to portray Falun Gong as bizarre, threatening, intolerant, and otherwise undeserving of sympathy or respect.
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The emails make bizarre claims, including that if the recipients took up the practice of Falun Gong, they would be granted “exceptional capabilities” including “making a fortune without labor.”
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“The Falun Dafa Information Center did not send these emails, and in no way condones the threats or bizarre thinking that they advance,” says Falun Dafa Information Center spokesperson Mr. Erping Zhang… “Still, it’s very clear why the e-mails take this tactic: it plays directly into the fears of extreme religious believers.”

Read the full article

We had reported on this issue four weeks ago after purportedly fraudulent emails like this were first discovered. This is our story from March 25, 2011:

Of note, in this video above, investigations into the I.P. addresses showed that the emails came from inside China—obviously not from the Falun Gong spokesperson in New Jersey, who is likely blacklisted from even entering China.