Monday, May 05, 2008

"The Olympics and Crimes Against Humanity Cannot Coexist in China"

Join us at the Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR) event on May 10 in downtown Miami!

The HRTR is an international campaign that seeks to end the Chinese regime’s rights abuses while highlighting the persecution of Falun Gong, the most severely persecuted group in China.

The HRTR also speaks for the rights of oppressed Tibetans, Christians, Uighurs, rights advocates, reporters, and defense lawyers—all who are persecuted by the communist regime.

The event is free and open to the public. We hope that you will join us and also circulate this notice to members of your organization, colleagues, friends, and family:

WHAT: Torch-lighting and rally with speakers and live music
WHO: To date, speakers include Michael Andrews, Amnesty International; Regina
Finnegan, Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting; Jim Howard, Voice of the
Martyrs; Daniel Naim, vice president of the Venezuelan Business Club; Freyhiwot
Samuel, former Ethiopian Supreme Court Justice; President of the Vietnamese-
American Association, and representatives of the Cuban Liberty Council, the
Association of Former Political Prisoners of Cuba, and Friends of Tibet, and a Falun
Gong practitioner who suffered persecution in China. Musicians and bands include
Drew Parker, Michael Ibarra, Johnathon Lloyd Malcolm, Origen, My Amends, Gaia,
It Came to This
WHERE: The Torch of Friendship, Bayfront Park, 301 N. Biscayne Blvd., Miami
WHEN: Saturday, May 10, 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Contacts: James Hu: 786-683-8804, e-mail: jianventure@bellsouth.net
Nancy Xia: 954-830-4609, e-mail: nancy_732@hotmail.com


BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS TORCH RELAY

China was granted the right to host the Olympics after it pledged to adhere to the Olympic Charter and improve its human rights record. Instead, its human rights abuses have worsened.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has intensified the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners—estimated at 100 million—and their families. Falun Gong adherents and other prisoners of conscience are murdered for their organs to supply a lucrative transplant industry. To read the investigation report, go to: http://www.organharvestinvestigation.net/

The CCP continues its brutal repression of Tibetan Buddhists, Christians, Uighurs, rights advocates, reporters, and defense lawyers—most notably, renowned rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. (Gao was abducted by police following his open letter to the U.S. Congress in which he appealed for help with the “human rights disaster” in China.)

The CCP also supports totalitarian regimes that slaughter their own citizens—in Sudan, Burma, Zimbabwe, and North Korea.

During the run-up to the 2008 Olympics, the HRTR, a grassroots campaign, is sponsoring events in 40 countries on six continents and in an estimated 150 cities (over 40 U.S. cities) to publicize its founding premise: The Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot coexist in China.

For more information, please see www.humanrightstorch.org

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