Congressmen Call for End to 11-Year Persecution of Falun Gong

SPEAK OUT: Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.) speaks on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on July 22 where around 500 Falun Gong practitioners from around the world gathered in peaceful protest against the Chinese Communist Party's persecution. (Lisa Fan/The Epoch Times)

WASHINGTON—On the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol at high noon on Thursday, about 500 Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) practitioners from around the world gathered in protest of the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of the meditation practice for the past 11 years.

Members of Congress, human rights activists, and Christian organizations joined offering their support for a new dawn of religious freedom in China.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) both spoke of the extreme brutality the Chinese regime inflicts on Falun Gong practitioners.

“That is absolutely despicable,” shouted Rep. Smith. “[Those who] cherish freedom must speak out against the brutality and hate that everyday manifests by the dictatorship of Beijing.”

Rep. Ros-Lehtenin said that the “Chinese communist regime’s obsessive and relentless hunting down of practitioners of Falun Gong” is “one of the most flagrant examples of systematic persecution in the 21st Century.”

Ros-Lehtenin was the author of H.R. 605 which called upon the Chinese regime to cease its campaign against Falun Gong practitioners and abolish the 6-10 office, which is given the mandate to “eradicate” Falun Gong. The resolution also called for the release of Falun Gong practitioners from prisons and reeducation through labor camps. It passed in March, overwhelmingly, 421 to 1.

Congresswoman Ros-Lehtenin said nothing had changed in the last four months since her resolution passed. “The persecution of Falun Gong is barbaric, bloody, and brutal, and it must come to an end at once!”

If anything the trend has been that the persecution is getting worse, observed Senator Mark Udall (D-Colo.), in a statement read at the rally. “Over the last 11 years of the ban against practicing Falun Gong in China, we have seen persecution against Falun Gong intensify, including an increase in censorship of websites, television stations, and other forms of media sympathetic to Falun Gong.”

Two of the speakers were survivors of China’s Re-education Through Labor camps. Charles Lee spent three years in a labor camp. Jennifer Zeng from Sydney, Australia, said she was present in July 1999 when the first Falun Gong practitioners were rounded up. She was eventually sent to a labor camp where she said she was “beaten, shocked by electric batons to every part of the body,” and deprived of sleep for days.

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, said that often female Falun Gong practitioners undergo forced abortions while being detained. She said that forced abortion and forced sterilizations were state policy in China and really forms of torture, which may explain the unusually large rate of female suicides in China and why China is the only country in the world where the female suicide rate is higher than the male suicide rate.

Solidarity with Falun Gong

Nearly all the speakers were not Falun Gong practitioners, but they expressed solidarity with the peaceful practice and appreciation for what Falun Gong has done to expand freedom for others.

“You have not surrendered to the tyranny, but have fought against it with the power of your hearts and minds. Through your television broadcasts, newspapers, and internet websites you have spread the word and provided access to the truth for those who live under the communist party’s lies and oppression,” said Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL.).

He continued: “Please know that as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I have worked hard to make sure your voice gets heard. … Your numbers cannot be denied and your collective voice cannot be stopped, especially not here in the United States, by Chinese communist thugs. I stand with you and share your principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.

Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) observed the first clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is about freedom of religion, which he said every person deserves, and expressed his solidarity with the protesters. The Congressman said, “We need to have change in the way we do business in the Peoples Republic of China.”

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“I feel a very strong sense of solidarity with you, and so do all the members throughout the world. I believe you people today are the true martyrs in this age, as you continue to persevere through one of the worst persecutions of the 21 century,” said Dan Fefferman, Executive Director, Coalition for Religious Freedom. “We know the ideology of Marxist/Leninism is a materialistic ideology, an evil ideology, an ideology that does not believe in freedom, especially not spiritual freedom, freedom of speech and religion. You stand as a testimony to the strength of human spirit that will never be dominated by this communist ideology.”

Appreciation was also expressed by many for the work that some Falun Gong practitioners have done to defeat China’s Firewall. Clothilde Le Coz, Washington Director of Reporters Without Borders, said, “The Falun Gong’s struggle has given a gift worldwide: circumvention software for internet users. Tired of being censored and harassed, the Falun Gong petitioners created one famous tool that is used all around the world. Thank you.”

Perhaps no one could surpass an expression of solidarity with Falun Gong’s persecution than Presbyterian minister Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition. He and his family were arrested for peacefully praying in front of the White House a few years ago to call attention to the lack of U.S. Government effort to pressure the Chinese to end the persecution. Rev. Mahoney waved his passport before the practitioners and said it shows that he was expelled from the Peoples’ Republic of China. He had been arrested and deported for demanding on Tiananmen Square for Chinese people to be able to freely practice their faith.

“This passport is a badge of honor I wear proudly,” said Rev. Mahoney.

Obama administration not doing enough

Smith cited the numbers of Falun Gong killed and asked why the United Nations and the United States remains silent of this “holocaust”? He said that the use of torture against Falun Gong practitioners is perhaps the worst anywhere in china.

“We call on the Obama administration to do more to raise its voice very clearly on behalf of Falun Gong.”

Smith noted that China is on the State Department’s list of a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for its human rights violations. He asked rhetorically, why aren’t the sanctions imposed on China, as is proscribed by the law?

“Even though Congress has spoken out nearly unanimously against [the persecution of Falun Gong], the Obama Administration, as previous administrations, has failed to press the government of China seriously enough to motivate theme to change their policy of attempting to destroy Falun Gong,” said Efferman.

Rep. Ros-Lehtenin repeated her wish that is contained in the House Resolution 605, which she authored. “I call upon President Obama and leaders of other free, democratic nations, to meet with Falun Gong practitioners whenever and wherever possible to emphasize our unequivocal support for freedom of conscience as a fundamental principle of the United States Government and any democracy.”

Reps. Edolphus ‘Ed’ Towns (D-NY) and Eliot Engle (D-NY) sent statements which were read at the rally.