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2008 Annual Report
2009/02/14
Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
The Falun Dafa Information Center received reports of 104 Falun Gong deaths between January and December 2008, resulting from severe abuse in police custody or other forms of persecution. During the 16 days of the Olympics alone, ten Falun Gong adherents are confirmed to have died from abuse in custody.
2009/02/14
Disappearance
The year saw continued reports of Falun Gong disappearances. Since 2006, the editors of Minghui.org, a Chinese-language website run by overseas Falun Gong practitioners with an extensive network of sources inside China, have maintained a database of practitioners reported missing by friends and relatives. Of these, many were disappeared following arrest and detention, and others disappeared after being forced to go underground to flee persecution. Since Minghui began work on the database, they have compiled some 1,300 cases.
2009/02/14
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The use of torture against Falun Gong practitioners remains commonplace and continued throughout 2008. Amnesty International published several urgent actions on behalf of adherents at risk of torture, while the UN Committee Against Torture issued a binding decision calling for an independent investigation into abuse of Falun Gong adherents in custody.
2009/02/14
Arbitrary Arrest or Detention
The year 2008 witnessed a systematic and nationwide increase in arbitrary arrests and detention of Falun Gong adherents, apparently as part of a clean-up effort ahead of the Beijing Olympics. Upon conclusion of the games, adherents continued to be sentenced without trial to “re-education through labor” for up to 2.5 years (see next section for sentencing to prison).
2009/02/14
Denial of Fair Public Trial
The year saw an increase in prison sentences given to adherents of Falun Gong, many of them coming after the conclusion of the Beijing Olympics and following months of pre-trial detention. Most sentences ranged from three to five years in length, though sentences as long as thirteen years were recorded. Lawyers who defended Falun Gong adherents continued to face intimidation and harassment.
2009/02/14
Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence
Reports from China indicate that many of the Falun Gong adherents detained ahead of the Beijing Olympics were taken directly from their homes or workplaces to detention centers and labor camps. Homes were frequently searched without warrant in order to find evidence that would implicate the Falun Gong practitioner, such as books of Falun Gong teachings or photos of its founder Mr. Li Hongzhi. Adherents also frequently reported that security officers confiscated electronic goods during home searches.
2009/02/14
Freedom of Speech and Press
Falun Gong remained one of the most taboo topics of coverage for both Chinese and foreign news organizations reporting from China in 2008. The pre-Olympic crackdown included the detention and sentencing of adherents found to be possessing, producing, or distributing underground leaflets in accordance with their right to freedom of expression.
2009/02/14
Internet Freedom
Throughout the year, Falun Gong and related websites remained among the most systematically and hermetically blocked by China’s Great Firewall, including during the Olympics. In at least one well-documented case, an adherent was sentenced to prison simply for downloading and circulating Falun Gong-related information from the internet.
2009/02/14
Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
Adherents of Falun Gong remained unable to peacefully assemble within mainland China for the purpose of protesting the state’s policy of persecution against them, practicing qigong exercises, meeting as a large group in public, etc. On the contrary, according to official directives, local security agencies were specifically tasked with preventing any form of Falun Gong-related appeal during the year, including the legally enshrined right to lodge a petition in Beijing.
2009/02/14
Freedom of Religion
The year 2008 saw the increased deprivation of freedom of religion to Falun Gong adherents as many of those detained in the pre-Olympic clean up were arrested for no other reason than that they were known to continue practicing Falun Gong, even if that practice consisted of studying Falun Gong tenets and practicing Falun Gong meditation in the privacy of their homes. In many cases, adherents of Falun Gong were arrested for possessing Falun Gong books, the sale, distribution, or possession of which is prohibited.