26 Years Later, the Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners Continues

Falun Gong practitioners take part in a parade to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day while calling for an end to the persecution in China, in New York City, on May 10, 2024. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Commentary

July marks the 26th anniversary of the Chinese communist regime’s brutal persecution of Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline and meditation practice based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

Human rights group Safeguard Defenders recently released data on the detention and sentencing of Falun Gong practitioners between 2008 and 2022. It found that the average jail sentence for an individual convicted under the communist regime’s Article 300 was 5.2 years. This is more than double the average 2.3 years for the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, a charge frequently used to persecute dissidents and human rights defenders in China.

Article 300, the so-called anti-cult law, has been the Chinese regime’s primary tool for targeting Falun Gong practitioners. Convictions under this article can result in a maximum sentence of seven years, with no cap for “serious” cases.

The persecution is rooted in the events of July 22, 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officially banned Falun Gong, following a peaceful protest in Beijing. Then-CCP leader Jiang Zemin felt threatened by the number of Falun Gong practitioners in China, then estimated to be in the tens of millions, which outnumbered the Party’s own membership. The CCP used Article 300 to target Falun Gong practitioners, leading to their arrest, detention, and lengthy sentencing.

The data collected by Safeguard Defenders reveal a grim picture. Many practitioners have died in custody, a large number as victims of forced organ harvesting. They have been persecuted outside the judicial system, and subjected to detention in labor camps or psychiatric centers. The 610 Office, a secret Party organization established in June 1999 to oversee the eradication of Falun Gong, likely played a role in determining sentence lengths for those accused under Article 300. Although the 610 Office appeared to have been disbanded in 2018, its functions were distributed to other regime bodies, and the persecution of Falun Gong continues to this day.

Recently, Safeguard Defenders collected data on some 1,400 cases of Falun Gong prosecutions, documenting the names, genders, locations, alleged crimes, and lengths of sentences. The findings highlight the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and facilitate comparisons with other human rights-related cases.

The data were divided into three political eras based on the CCP leader at the time: Hu Jintao’s second term (2008–2012), Xi Jinping’s first term (2013–2016), and Xi’s second term (2017–2022). More than half of the cases were Article 300 convictions, underscoring the CCP’s determination to punish Falun Gong practitioners.

The data also show that Article 300 has been used to criminalize dozens of other banned religious groups, such as the Church of Almighty God. In fact, in a relatively new development, China’s Christian believers—particularly those who are part of underground house churches—are increasingly being targeted under the article. This further showcases how the CCP views spirituality as a potential existential threat to its grip on power.

Geographically, most cases were recorded in northeastern China, with Heilongjiang Province having the highest number of cases. The data also reveal a gender disparity, with 50 percent more women than men convicted of Article 300 crimes between 2008 and 2022.

Comparing Article 300 cases with those of other human rights-related crimes, such as Article 293 cases (picking quarrels and provoking trouble) and Article 105 cases (state subversion and incitement to subvert the state), highlights the severity of the penalties faced by Falun Gong practitioners.

In short, to this day, Falun Gong practitioners can expect to be punished far more harshly than almost any other group in China, and often simply because of their beliefs, not because of any specific actions.

Despite changes in political leadership and the passage of time, the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong remains unwavering. The data serve as a stark reminder of the ongoing human rights abuses in China and the urgent need for international attention and action to address these injustices.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.