President of a Swedish Human Rights Organisation Publicly Condemns the Persecution of Falun Gong

Stergtland's largest news website, Corren.se, recently published an open letter by Petra Lingberg, president of SHRIC ("Supporting Human Rights in China") entitled "Condemning the Persecution of Falun Gong." Below is her open letter in full:

Condemning the Persecution of Falun Gong

Ten years of the persecution of Falun Gong in China have already passed. Ten years of illegal detention, cruel torture, and forced labour. Ten years of brainwashing propaganda and lies have passed. During these ten years, Falun Gong practitioners have never adopted violence, but have simply and peacefully asked to be allowed the freedom of belief. Nonetheless, for this many Falun Gong practitioners have been sent to labour camps and brainwashing centres. Not only that, in the most recent years, many Falun Gong practitioners have become the victims of illegal organ transplants.

I myself have also seen Falun Gong practitioners who have survived the persecution. With the help of Western governments as well as the United Nations, they are now safe. The persecution they endured surpasses what anyone can imagine. What is truly pitiable however, is that society at large has done nothing to stop this persecution that is taking place in China today. As of today, the Laogai Research Foundation has ascertained that there are over 1,400 forced labour camps in China that house an estimated three to six million inmates. This indicates that this country's regime is similar to the German Nazi regime at the time of the Second World War.

In actuality it is hard for people to accept that China, where the Olympics were held, has become a human rights calamity. For instance, approximately ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in connection with the Olympics. They were taken away from their homes or from their work--some students were even arrested from their classrooms--and a few hours after they were arrested, some of them died of cruel torture. In the West, it is very hard for us to understand how this could have happened, but it is even harder to understand why international society and the European Union don't exert more pressure on the CCP.

In the recent ten years, human rights organisations including Amnesty International and the United Nations have put particular emphasis on the persecution in China and the cruel torture used on prisoners of conscience in their reports. The UN also levelled criticism at the CCP dictatorship for its unlawful stealing of Falun Gong practitioners' organs. This indicates that even after ten years the persecution of Falun Gong has not stopped, but worsened. Falun Gong practitioners have not been granted legal cases and have been put in prisons and labour camps, where they have been victims of cruel torture, sexual abuse, and forced labour.

Ten years! Ten years is too long! The Swedish government, as the chair nation of the European Union, should accept responsibility and publicly condemn the persecution of Falun Gong by demanding that the CCP respect the United Nations Convention on Human Rights.

Petra Lindberg