DANGEROUS MEDITATION China’s Campaign Against Falungong Human Rights Watch New York · Washington · London · Brussels Copyright © January 2002 by Human Rights Watch. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN 1-56432-270-X Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2002100348 Cover photos: In August 2001 a Chinese court sentenced four persons whom the government alleged to be Falungong members to between seven years and life imprisonment for organizing a mass suicide attempt. Falungong spokespersons have denied practitioners had any association with the incident. (c) 2001 AFP Photo/Xinhua Falungong practitioners exercise during a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong. (c) 2001 AFP Photo/Frederic J. 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It accepts no government funds, directly or indirectly. The staff includes Kenneth Roth, executive director; Michele Alexander, development director; Reed Brody, advocacy director; Carroll Bogert, communications director; John T. Green, operations director, Barbara Guglielmo, finance director; Lotte Leicht, Brussels office director; Michael McClintock, deputy program director; Patrick Minges, publications director; Maria Pignataro Nielsen, human resources director; Malcolm Smart, program director; Wilder Tayler, legal and policy director; and Joanna Weschler, United Nations representative. Jonathan Fanton is the chair of the board. Robert L. Bernstein is the founding chair. The regional directors of Human Rights Watch are Peter Takirambudde, Africa; José Miguel Vivanco, Americas; Sidney Jones, Asia; Elizabeth Andersen, Europe and Central Asia; and Hanny Megally, Middle East and North Africa. The thematic division directors are Joost R. Hiltermann, arms; Lois Whitman, children’s; and LaShawn R. Jefferson, women’s. The members of the board of directors are Jonathan Fanton, Chair; Robert L. Bernstein, Founding Chair, Lisa Anderson, David M. Brown, William Carmichael, Dorothy Cullman, Gina Despres, Irene Diamond, Fiona Druckenmiller, Edith Everett, Michael Gellert, Vartan Gregorian, Alice H. Henkin, James F. Hoge, Jr., Stephen L. Kass, Marina Pinto Kaufman, Wendy Keys, Bruce J. Klatsky, Joanne Leedom - Ackerman, Josh Mailman, Joel Motley, Samuel K. Murumba, Jane Olson, Peter Osnos, Kathleen Peratis, Catherine Powell, Bruce Rabb, Sigrid Rausing, Orville Schell, Sid Sheinberg, Gary G. Sick, Malcolm Smith, Domna Stanton, John Studzinski, Maureen White, Maya Wiley. Emeritus Board: Roland Algrant, Adrian DeWind, and Malcolm Smith. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report was written by Mickey Spiegel, research consultant to the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch. Joseph Saunders, deputy director of the Asia Division; Sidney Jones, the division’s executive director; Malcolm Smart, Human Rights Watch program director; and Jim Ross, senior legal advisor, edited the report. Elizabeth Weiss, Fitzroy Hepkins, Veronica Matushaj, and Patrick Minges provided production assistance. A very special thank you goes to Julia Zuckerman, an indefatigable volunteer whose research talents and endless patience in locating and organizing documentation were invaluable. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS ......................... 1 Executive Summary.......................................... 1 Note on methodology ........................................ 5 Recommendations........................................... 5 To the Chinese government ................................. 5 To the Hong Kong government .............................. 7 To the international community.............................. 7 To corporations doing business in China....................... 7 II. WHAT IS FALUNGONG? ...................................... 8 The Membership ........................................... 12 Freedom of Belief in China................................... 14 III. DEFIANCE AND RESPONSE: A CHRONOLOGY ................ 17 IV. ZHANG KUNLUN -- AN ILLUSTRATIVE CASE ................. 44 Analysis.................................................. 50 V. FALUNGONG IN CUSTODY: COMPETING ACCOUNTS .......... 53 Judicial Prosecutions........................................ 53 Reeducation through Labor; Transformation Centers ............... 56 Death in Custody, Torture and Other Ill-treatment ................. 58 Psychiatric Incarceration..................................... 62 VI. FALUNGONG OUTSIDE MAINLAND CHINA ................... 64 Falungong in Hong Kong .................................... 64 Falungong Elsewhere in Asia ................................. 72 Thailand............................................... 72 Singapore.............................................. 73 Japan ................................................. 74 Australia............................................... 75 Taiwan................................................ 75 Falungong in the West ....................................... 76 Europe. 77 Canada................................................ 79 United States ........................................... 79 United Nations............................................. 83 VII. ANALYSIS OF THE GOVERNMENT RESPONSE ............... 85 Why Eradication? .......................................... 85 A “rule of law” veneer....................................... 91 VIII. CONCLUSION ............................................ 95 APPENDIX I: REEDUCATION THROUGH LABOR IN CHINA ........ 98 APPENDIX II: LAWS AND REGULATIONS USED TO CRACK DOWN ON FALUNGONG ........................................... 103 Social Organizations Regulations ............................. 103 The Assembly Law and Implementing Regulations ............... 105 Public Order Regulations.................................... 106 The PRC Criminal Law..................................... 108 State Secrets and State Security Laws.......................... 110 Laws Governing Electronic and Print Media..................... 112 Internet Regulations..................................... 113 APPENDIX III: A LETTER FROM ZHANG KUNLUN TO BRIGADE LEADER LIANG JUNLING ................................ 117 “Falungong is an anti-scientific, anti-human, anti-social, anti-government and illegal organization with all the characteristics of an evil religion.” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, August 1999 I. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Executive Summary Since 1999, Falungong practitioners have been the target of an aggressive and often violent crackdown by the Chinese government, one aspect of much broader tightening of controls on individuals and organizations whose activities China’s leaders perceive as threatening to Chinese Communist Party control. The past two years have witnessed a deterioration in civil liberties nationwide, with disparate groups—political dissidents, foreign scholars, labor organizers, religious believers worshiping outside official aegis, activists in Tibet and Xinjiang, Internet users, academics,