Escalated Campaign against Falun Gong in China Before and After the Olympics

The following report documents a variety of rights violations against Falun Gong adherents, both inside and outside China, that occurred in 2008. It indicates that the Communist Party’s campaign against Falun Gong escalated sharply during the year as China’s rulers took advantage of the Olympic games to catalyze and justify the large-scale arrest, imprisonment, and monitoring of Chinese citizens known to adhere to the spiritual practice.

The report draws on a wide range of sources including first-hand accounts from practitioners, their families, and human rights lawyers, Chinese government websites, foreign media reports, research by Amnesty International, and a thorough study by the Congressional Executive Commission on China.

 (Download full 2008 Annual Report as PDF)

Executive Summary and Recommendations

I. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life

II. Disappearance

III. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

IV. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention

V. Denial of Fair Public Trial

VI. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence

VII. Freedom of Speech and Press

VIII. Internet Freedom

IX. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

X. Freedom of Religion

XI. Freedom of Movement within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, Repatriation

XII. Hong Kong

XIII. Reports of Persecution Outside of China

Appendix: Documented Falun Gong Deaths in 2008

Appendix: Congressional-Executive Commission on China 2008 Annual Report