‘Time to Dismantle' China's Organ Harvesting Industry, Senator Says
'China's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners is an attack on religious freedom and human rights. It's long past time to dismantle the CCP's state-sponsored organ harvesting industry,' Cruz, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
Cruz was responding to an
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice that encourages practitioners to abide by its core principles: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. It was first introduced to the public in 1992 and
The CCP deemed Falun Gong's widespread appeal as a threat to its rule and launched a brutal crackdown in July 1999—a campaign of persecution and human rights abuses that continues to this day.
Many Falun Gong practitioners have died after suffering abuses while incarcerated, while others have been killed for their organs.
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In 2019, the
'Amid the past 25 years of brutal persecution, there has never been an act of retaliatory violence by Falun Gong practitioners,' Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center,
'What is it about Falun Gong that endeared itself so quickly to so many, and gave them the inner strength to peacefully withstand the full force and terror of the Chinese regime? The answer lies in its core tenets and how the teachings offer people a way to genuinely live by them.'
To celebrate World Falun Dafa Day, thousands of Falun Gong practitioners
Similar parades were also in several other cities this month, including
In response to Cruz's comment, the Falun Dafa Information Center expressed gratitude and thanked the senator for his 'steadfast leadership on human rights' in an
'We're grateful for your introduction of S.817, the Falun Gong Protection Act, and hope to see it passed in the Senate soon!' the organization wrote.
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