Human+Rights+-+bsjk


 * Summary:** Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that is Buddhist in nature. It consists of moral teachings for daily life, a meditation, and four gentle exercises. Falun Gong is always taught free of charge and is practiced in over 80 countries.

While Falun Gong is practiced openly in 70 countries, today in its homeland of China it is subject to severe human rights violations. The scale and scope of abuses taking place make it possibly the largest religious persecution in the world today.

is illegal there because it "engaged in illegal activities, advocating superstition and spreading fallacies, hoodwinking people, inciting and creating disturbances, and jeopardizing social stability.

HUMAN RIGHTS Since 1999, when the persecution against Falun Gong was launched in China, governments and NGOs around the world have taken steps to document the human rights abuses suffered by Falun Gong practitioners and to voice their disapproval of the campaign. Amnesty International states that despite the crackdown many Falun Gong practitioners continued to hold exercise sessions in public, usually as a form of peaceful, silent protest against the crackdown and imprisonment; they were often attended by large numbers of people, including significant numbers of elderly and women. The Party declared the sessions to be "illegal assemblies;" practitioners or others who "spoke up" for the movement would be detained by officials, at the beginning for several days. This method was later seen as inadequate, because upon release, practitioners would resume protest activities. The authorities treated these practitioners as "recidivists" and saw them as particularly problematic. They were not given the priviledge to speak there mind & what they felt.

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