Hands Off Cain
NEWS ARCHIVE·DEATH PENALTY·JANUARY 16, 2002

CHINA STEPS UP PERSECUTION OF SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS

January 16, 2002: the Chinese authorities have intensified their repression of Falun Gong practitioners and are now cracking down on Christians. Hands Off Cain tomorrow will protest in front of the Chinese embassy in Rome against this persecution.

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police in China have tortured 343 Falun Gong practitioners to death, 20, 000 are confined to labour camps and another 100,000 are under arrest.
The repression of spiritual movements is now being turning on Christian groups. In December Gong Shengliang, 46, founder of the South China Church and his niece Li Ying, 46, one of the principal animators of the religious movement, were condemned to death.
Li Guangqiang, a Hong Kong businessman, risks capital punishment for importing thousands of Bibles to a Christian sect called the Shouters in mainland China. He has been under arrest since May and stands accused of "using an evil cult to undermine the enforcement of law".
These were the first death sentences handed out on the under the law on cults approved by the People’s Congress in 1999 and tailored for the repression of Falun Gong.
Falun Gong practitioners from Taiwan will converge on Rome and join Hands Off Cain to demand that China respect freedom of belief and conscience.
Senator Natale D’Amico, the promoter of a number of resolutions in the Italian parliament for the respect of human rights in China will also join the protest in front of the Chinese Embassy at 56, Via Bruxelles, Rome at 11.00 CET.

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SOURCES
  • Hands Off Cain, 16/01/2002