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Hou Mingkai Tortured to Death for Broadcasting Falun Gong Program on Cable TV
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Falun Gong practitioner Hou Mingkai, male, 35, from Jilin Province. Because he spoke publicly in favor of Falun Gong, he was regularly harassed by the police. In order to avoid further persecution, he was forced to leave home in July 2001.
In March 2002, Hou Mingkai and other practitioners tapped into a local cable TV channel and broadcast a program geared to publicly expose the persecution of Falun Gong. In response to this, the "610 Office" issued a warrant for Mingkai and promised a 50,000-Yuan reward and a promotion to whoever caught him. In August 2002, he was arrested; two days later he was tortured to death, and his body was cremated on the same day. The police claimed that he had jumped his death off of a building.
Amnesty International Calls for “Urgent Action”
On March 15th and April 12, Amnesty International headquarters in London issued two Urgent Action statements for Falun Gong practitioners in Changchun. “Dozens of suspected members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement have reportedly been detained during a security crackdown in Changchun City, Jilin Province,” the Urgent Action stated. “Amnesty International believes they are at serious risk of torture or ill-treatment…”
Local sources say killings have occurred every day since the broadcast, and police in the Changchun detention and “re-education” centers have been given orders to cremate all dead bodies immediately. Other reports state that police have been given quotas to round up five Falun Gong practitioners per day and are conducting on-the-spot searches of citizens.
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