(Clearwisdom.net) May 19th report: the annual report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom criticized the religious policies of several countries, including China. In response, Zhang Qiyue, the Chinese ruling Party mouthpiece and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, spewed trite accusations such as "interfering with China's internal affairs," "damaging the relationship between China and the US," and she again slandered Falun Gong.

Human history has witnessed too many situations in which dictators massacre innocent people. Today, "human rights above authority" is a widely accepted principle, and the so-called "interfering with internal affairs" is only a shield a dictator uses to cover up his crimes when accused of the bloody atrocities he committed.

On June 10, 1999, through his personal will and power, Jiang Zemin established the "610 Office," an organization with power above the constitution and all laws. It specializes in persecuting Falun Gong and carrying out state-terrorist policies. After July 20, 1999, Jiang Zemin ordered the "610 Office" to use genocidal policies against Falun Gong practitioners: to "defame their reputations, bankrupt them financially, destroy them physically;" "the death of Falun Gong practitioners from beating is nothing and shall be counted as suicide; the body shall be directly cremated without investigating the person's identification."

During the past four years, Jiang's group has exhausted all means to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. As of now, at least 703 innocent Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death at the hands of Jiang's group, simply because they persisted in their belief. The tortures Jiang's group use on the Falun Gong practitioners include long-term sleep deprivation, shocking practitioners simultaneously with several high-voltage electric batons for a long time in sensitive places, including the mouth, chest, armpits, breasts and private parts. They use all kinds of handcuffs and shackles, such as "smoke pipe cuff," "wolf fang handcuff" and "back cuff." They use rubber clubs, wolf fang clubs, the dungeon, a water dungeon, the "dead person's bed" and sitting planks to torture the practitioners. They use leather whips, copper wires, steel bars, thorny plants, spiked bamboo sticks and "tying the rope" to torture the practitioners. They hammer metal nails under the practitioners' fingernails, they pinch the practitioners' bodies with pliers; they pull out the practitioners' nails with pliers and lock them up in solitary confinement; they force practitioners to sit on metal chairs, they force-feed the practitioners (using non-medicinal plastic tubes) with pepper sauce, concentrated saline solution, human urine and feces, and they commit other such atrocities.

In the winter, they pour cold water on the practitioners, strip them of their clothing and throw them outside into the cold. In the heat of summer, they force them to stand outside to be burned by the sun. They forbid the practitioners to go to the restroom and deprive them of sleep for half a month continuously. They forcibly inject the practitioners with large amounts of nerve-damaging drugs, and they force the practitioners to take large doses of nerve-damaging drugs; they use over 40 types of torture with high-voltage electric needles on the practitioners, many of whom are women and elderly.

According to information from the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong published on March 20, 2003, "The regime has expended one quarter of China's financial resources to persecute Falun Gong. This funding comes from diverting foreign investments and Chinese citizens' earnings, as well as illegal fines forcibly imposed upon Falun Gong practitioners and their family members and work units. A great deal of funding across the nation has been allocated to public security, national security, the criminal "610 Offices," and the foreign affairs department. This funding has been used to arrest and persecute Falun Gong practitioners in China, build "610 Offices" and brainwashing centers across the nation, mobilize nation-wide media to fabricate massive slanders and lies, and interfere with the Falun Gong practitioners overseas. It has become clear that the Chinese people's money that was earned with sweat and blood through hard labor has been used to persecute the people themselves. This has caused tremendous pressure on the livelihoods of people throughout China and brought grave consequences to the nation's economic development."

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom condemned the Jiang regime's persecution of Falun Gong. This shows that the Jiang regime's shameless brutality has attracted wide attention and criticism from the international community. In spite of this obvious proof, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Zhang Qiyue, blatantly claims, "Chinese citizens enjoy freedom of religion," which reminds us of the Chinese Party officials' shameless attempts to cover up the SARS epidemic and deceive the world while the disease was spreading.

May 18, 2003