To coincide with the 12th January 1951, when genocide was declared illegal by
the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Australian Falun Dafa practitioners
held the “Persecution Meets Principle” anti-torture exhibition in Bankstown,
Sydney, on January the 13th and 14th 2005.
Bankstown is the local area of world
renowned Traditional Chinese Artist, Ms Zhang Cuiying, who filed a lawsuit against
former Chinese Communist leader, Jiang Zemin, for torture. We reached a common
understanding that this event would help the public see more of the persecution
of Falun Gong is happening in China, and to support the lawsuit to bring perpetrators
to justice.
The exhibit featured a live reenacted torture display, showing
torture methods that are currently used to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners
in Chinese prisons and labour camps. There were also information display boards
as well as a video projection system playing the “Three Women” and “The
Real Story of Falun Dafa” short films.
Although the exhibit could only
be held indoors at that time, practitioners overcame this obstacle by handing
out invitation flyers to locals at the nearby shops, shopping centre and train
stations. One practitioner decided to visit each nearby shop owner and personally
invite them to come.
Most shop owners were quite happy to receive the information
and were saddened to hear about the torture Falun Dafa practitioners endure in
Chinese labour camps. One was so moved by Ms Zhang’s 8-month detention and torture
in China, that she asked the practitioner to leave some petitions and flyers for
her and she said that she would ask all of her customers to sign.
Practitioners
also collected the petition signatures near the shops. The petition asks that
all detained Falun Gong practitioners in China be released and that the Australian
Government express support for Ms Zhang’s lawsuit.
At the opening
ceremony practitioners welcomed the invited Government representatives and VIPs
who attended. A local city councillor expressed his relief that Ms Zhang was successfully
released, after a Falun Gong motion he supported was passed, at the local city
council during 2000. He suggested that the Australian Government could take a
more active with rescuing victims of torture and persecution abroad. He finished
up his comments, saying that he would continue to support Ms Zhang and the efforts
she makes to assist persecuted Falun Dafa practitioners. A state Member of Parliament
also attended. She praised the short film “Three Women” and said that
it is a very good way of helping people, to understand the persecution of Falun
Dafa practitioners. She thanked practitioners and said that she had learnt a lot
through this event.
Practitioners in the photos showing
how they are tortured in the labour camps / jails in China for not giving up practising
Falun Dafa.
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Posting
date: 16/Jan/2005
Original article date: 15/Jan/2005
Category: Australian
News
