Investigative Report on the "Tiananmen Square Self-immolation" Incident (Part II)

Problems and shams in news reports published by the Chinese official media

The International Committee to Investigate the So-Called Self-Immolation in Tiananmen Square (ICISSITS) was established on 23 January 2003 under the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFLG). ICISSITS has conducted comprehensive, objective and independent investigations and follow-ups on the so-called self-immolation incident at 2:41 pm on 23 January 2001 in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, which shocked China and the world. The investigation includes the discovery that the three appearances by Wang Jindong, on CCTV's program Focus Interview, were not by the same person according to advanced speech recognition technology. Through various channels, ICISSITS also investigated the witnesses in Jishuitan Hospital who have supposedly treated the self-immolators, and it was found that the so-called self-immolation in Tiananmen Square was a major conspiracy. A detailed report was published on 16 May 2003 on the Upholdjustice website: http://upholdjustice.org/Lastest_News/self_immolation_report.htm.
Recently WOIPFLG conducted analyses and follow-ups on the published reports on the self-immolation incident in the Chinese government's official media. Further evidence has been obtained, which proves that the Chinese government's official reports are self-contradictory, the contents of the reports lack truth, which ordinary media news reports are expected to provide, and it is suspected that the Chinese reports were fabricated. Several key figures associated in the self-immolation incident, including Wang Jindong and Xue Hongjun, have apparently provided false witness statements. Details of investigations are published as follows.

1. The Chinese government's official media reports are self-contradictory and full of flaws

1.1 When did the family members of Wang Jindong start to practise Falun Gong?

Wang Juan said, in the article "Special interview with self-immolator Wang Jindong's daughter Wang Juan" [1] (to be referred to as "Special interview" below), published on 24 April 2002 in Geneva Xinhua net, "It was in 1997 that their family started to practice Falun Gong. They were crazy about it."

However, in the Xinhua News Agency (Zhengzhou) article published on 19 May 2002 titled "Tiananmen Square self-immolator Wang Jindong's accusation"[2](to be referred to as "Wang's accusation" below), it was said that "As Wang Jindong gradually elevated his levels, he started to introduce Falun Gong to his family members. At that time, Wang's 16 year-old daughter Wang Juan was introduced to the book 'Zhuan Falun' by her father, and four days later she started to read the book Zhuan Falun. Two years later, Wang's wife He Haihua also started to practice Falun Gong".

In the article "In those dream days --- Recalls from the family members of former infatuated 'Falun Gong' practitioner Wang Jindong"[3] written by Guangming Daily newspaper journalist Wang Guangrong, it was said that "In 1996, Wang Jindong's family started to be infatuated with 'Falun Gong', the three members of his family quickly became infatuated 'Falun Gong' practitioners."

On 8 April 2002 Zhongxin News Agency (Zhengzhou) published an article titled "Tiananmen Square self-immolators Wang Jindong and Xue Hongjun recall follies"[4], it was said that "One of the key organizers of the Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident, Xue Hongjun, clearly remembers how himself, Wang Jindong and others secretly organized the self-immolation incident in Tiananmen Square, and he said, 'Back then, it had been more than one year since Wang Jindong, myself and others began to practice Falun Gong as one of the first group of disciples. We had never been out to promote Falun Gong. Li Hongzhi had been giving instructions via the internet telling Falun Gong disciples to let go of life and death, and go out to promote Falun Gong in order to achieve final consummation. Then, for many fellow practitioners, it was a trend to go to Tiananmen Square for self-immolation in order to reach consummation.'"

In the article "Wang Jindong's personal statement on the 23 January Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident" [5](to be referred to as "Wang's personal statement" below), which was published by Xinhua News Agency on 7 April 2003, it was said that Xue Hongjun introduced Wang Jindong to Falun Gong. The self-immolation incident happened in January 2001, therefore Xue's statement that he and Wang Jingdong "had practiced Falun Gong for more than one year" suggests that Xue and Wang started to practice Falun Gong in the period between 1999 and 2000.

From the above five reports, it is apparent that there exists major discrepancy on when Wang Jindong's family started to practise Falun Gong. WOIPFLG will further investigate and obtain more evidence from the authors of the five articles mentioned above and investigate suspects Xue Hongjun, Wang Juan, Wang Jindong and others.

1.2 When did Wang Jindong call out those words? Xinhua News Agency's earlier and later reports and CCTV reports contradict each other.

In "Wang's personal statement", Wang Jindong said, "At about 2:30 pm, …, I flicked on the lighter and I was instantly engulfed by flames. I did not have time to sit in the Dapan posture (great crossing legs) so I sat in the single crossing leg posture. Driven by the large flames, the air was making loud noises. I could hardly breathe, but I was very clear that the goal will soon be realized. At that moment, police tried to stop the fire by covering me with something unknown. I twice refused to let them put out the fires on my body. A few moments later, someone used fire extinguishers and the fire was put out. I was very disappointed, stood up and called out, 'Truth, compassion and forbearance [zhen, shan and ren] is the universal law. It is the law which everyone must follow. My Master is the chief Buddha.'" At this point in the article, Wang Jindong said that he "stood up and called out". More specifically, he said the he stood up and called out the words after the fire was put out.

On the other hand, however, in CCTV's video footage, Wang Jindong was sitting on the ground when he called out the words.

Moreover, a report published by Xinhua News Agency on 30 January 2001 titled "Infatuated Falun Gong practitioners' self-immolation incident - from beginning to end"[6] (to be referred to as "From beginning to end" below), it was stated "Afterwards, red flames burst out from the man, forming a dark smoke. Amongst the red flames, the man shouted desperately: 'The great law of the universe is the law that everyone must experience.'" The description of the man calling out the words in the red flames in this report is in total contradiction with those described in "Wang's personal statement".

1.3 Were there 'red flames' on the body of Wang Jindong?

In CCTV's video footage, it is clear that when Wang Jindong called those words while sitting on the ground, there was neither 'red flames' nor remnant smoke. Yet in the article "From beginning to end", it was said that "Afterwards, red flames burst out from the man, forming a dark smoke. Amid the roaring inferno of flame, this man screamed with the top of his voice and with all his might". Therefore, the descriptions in the article and the video footages are definitely not consistent with each other.

1.4 How was petrol poured onto Wang Jindong's body?

In "Wang's Personal Statement", Wang Jindong said that they poured the petrol into drink bottles, and then "Liu Yunfang and I hung the bottles on our necks and secured the bottles under our armpits with sticky tape, then we put on our wool jumpers, followed by cotton-padded (quilted) jackets. After that, we took with us the single-edged blades and lighters which Hao Huijun had purchased in advance". "At about 2:30 pm, I used the blade I had prepared in my hand to cut through the clothes and sliced the bottle, and then I threw away the blade and took out the lighter. At that moment, the police were walking towards me, and when they were at about ten paces from me, I flicked on the lighter and I was instantly engulfed by flames". That is to say, according to Wang Jindong's own account, the petrol on his body was from the bottle hung around his neck and attached under his armpit by sticky tape and then the bottle was sliced open and the petrol flowed over his body. However, according to the article "From beginning to end", it was said that: "At 2:41 pm, north-east of People's Heroes Memorial Monument, a man in his forties, facing north-west, sat in a "leg-crossing" posture, and continuously poured liquid over his body from a green plastic bottle. Afterwards, red flames burst out from the man's body, exuding a pall of dark smoke, ... ." The article clearly stated here that Wang Jindong had "continuously poured liquid over his body from a green plastic bottle".

In both articles "Wang's personal statement" and "From beginning to end", there were lengthy descriptions on how the so-called self-immolators managed to pour petrol over themselves. Both reports referred to the fact that they had test-run the procedure several times. That is to say, it was very important for the self-immolators to get it right in the perfect way in pouring petrol over themselves. Yet the two reports were entirely at odds with each other over this very crucial technical issue.

1.5 Where did the drink bottle between Wang Jindong's legs come from?

In "Wang's personal statement", Wang Jindong said: " Liu Yunfang and I hung the bottles on our necks and secured the bottles under our armpits with sticky tape, then we put on our wool jumpers, followed by cotton-padded (quilted) jackets. ... At about 2:30 pm, I used the blade I had prepared in my hand to cut through the clothes and sliced the bottle, and then I threw away the blade and took out the lighter. At that moment, the police were walking towards me, and when they were at about ten paces from me, I flicked on the lighter and I was instantly engulfed by flames".

In "From beginning to end", however, it was said that: "After the incident commenced, the police on duty in the square dashed towards us without concern for their own safety and sparing no effort to save us. At the north end of the People's Heroes' Memorial Monument, four police officers first noticed a man of more than 40 years old in self-immolation. They immediately fetched their fire extinguishers, and speedily rushed to the man. One policeman risked being burnt by the fierce fire, rushed in front of the ball of flames, and draped a fire extinguishing blanket over the man's body from his head, attempting to extinguish the flames. ..., in less than a minute several police officers put out the flames on that man's body with four fire extinguishers, and the police-vehicle-on-duty was used to promptly take the man to hospital for emergency treatment".

"More and more police officers rushed towards the flames, more and more fire extinguishers were used to spray white mists to suppress the wild flames. In only one and half minutes, the flames were extinguished on the four crazy Falun Gong practitioners at the north end of the memorial monument."

In this report "From beginning to end", the fire on Wang Jindong's body was extinguished in less than one minute. But according to "Wang's personal statement", Wang Jindong "hung the bottles on our necks and secured the bottles under our armpits with sticky tape". For a period of less than a minute after the fire broke out, was it possible for Wang Jindong to take off the bottle hung around his neck and secured under his armpits with sticky tape and put it between his legs as shown on CCTV's video footages? On 14 May 2003, it was reported in Falun Dafa Minghui Net, in the article "Female reporter Li Yuqiang from CCTV's Focus Interview admitted that the self-immolation shots contained shams" (http://search.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/5/14/50261.html): "In early 2002, CCTV's female reporter Li Yuqiang of Focus Interview publicly admitted that the Tiananmen self-immolation shots contained shams."

The report stated that, "In early 2002, when Li Yuqiang interviewed Wang Bo at the Hebei Province Capital City Legal Education Training Center, she joined a so-called 'informal discussions' session with Dafa practitioners who were illegally detained. During the session, some Falun Gong practitioners asked her about the various suspected points and flaws of the shots of the 'self-immolation' (especially about the scene where Wang Jindong was severely burnt and his skin turned black, yet the plastic drink bottle between his legs was undamaged). Faced with the rational analysis, Li Yuqiang had no alternative but to admit that: the plastic drink bottle between the legs of Wang Jindong at Tiananmen Square was deliberately placed there by them, and that part of the video footage was shot afterwards. She even quibbled that it was to let people believe that the self-immolation was conducted by Falun Gong practitioners, and had they known these shams would be detected, they would not have not done that."

In another Minghui Net article published on 8 March 2003 entitled "I had seen another staged 'self-immolation' photo of the fake Wang Jindong" (http://search.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/3/8/45954.html), a Falun Gong practitioner, who signed as a "Dafa Practitioner in Mainland China", stated that he had seen a photo published in the Jin Zhou Daily which showed a photo of a petrol bottle placed on the ground beside Wang Jindong's right leg. It was not like what was shown in the video in which the bottle was placed between his legs:

"On the day after the news broadcast (of the self-immolation incident), in order to brainwash us in the prison, they asked prisoners to read us the report on the 'self-immolation' published in Jin Zhou Daily.....We took the newspaper and read ourselves. The most notable part was the photo of Wang Jindong sitting crossed-legged. His legs were in a loose crossing posture and both legs were at a large angle to the ground. His thumbs overlap, with palms facing inwards. The circle of his conjoined hands was pointing upwards. Those were absolutely not Falun Gong postures. Most importantly there was a bottle beside his right leg. That was very different from what's in CCTV's Focus Interview program, in which the petrol bottle was in his embrace. At that moment, we did not know about the analysis by slow motion playback, but the photo referred to above was sufficient for us to know that this Wang Jindong was a fake."

That report also mentioned that the published photo with the petrol bottle beside Wang Jindong's right leg was from the Jin Zhou Daily newspaper dated around 1 February 2001.
WOIPFLG hereby appeals to anyone who has the Jin Zhou Daily newspaper with the photo of Wang Jindong around 1 February, 2001 to provide us a copy the newspaper for further investigations.

1.6 Was Wang Jindong's hair burnt in the"'self-immolation?"

The CCTV's self-immolation video showed that when Wang Jindong was shouting those words he had all his hair in good condition. However, the Beijing Evening News article "For Tiananmen's Tranquility - a record of handling the infatuated Falun Gong practitioners self-immolation"[7] published on 16 February, 2001, (hereafter referred to as "Record of self-immolation" ), described that "Xiao Yang, who is able to sprint 100 meters in 13 seconds, and his team-mates carried Wang Jindong, whose hair had been completely burnt, onto the police vehicle".

In the subsequent reports on CCTV on the self-immolation, Wang Jindong was shown lying in the hospital bed with very little hair left. In his Personal Statement, it was after the fire was extinguished when Wang Jindong shouted those words. Therefore, his hair could have not been burnt after he shouted those words. It is concluded that for the two contradictory video footage of Wang Jindong, i.e., one on site showing Wang having all this hair and the other showing Wang having no hair in the hospital, one must be fake or even both are fake. [Translator's note: the above conclusion may not be valid. Burn victims may have their hair cut for treatment after being admitted into hospital. However, Beijing Evening News' article is inconsistent with the CCTV's video footage on the square.]

1.7 Where did the police vehicle go after the "self-immolation"?

In the article "Wang's personal statement", Wang Jindong said that after the self-immolation, the police vehicle drove at a very high speed towards Jishuitan Hospital. "At the hospital, I was lying on bed in an emergency consultation room, ..."; but the article "A record of self-immolation" stated that "Xiao Yang, who is able to sprint 100 meters in 13 seconds, and his team-mates carried Wang Jindong, whose hair had been completely burnt, onto the police vehicle, drove quickly to the Xuanwu District City Emergency Center at lighting speed. Later he was transferred from the emergency centre to Jishuitan Hospital."

Translator's addition:
The self-immolation incident occurred at 2:41 pm in Tiananmen Square, which is only about 10 km? away from Jishuitan Hospital. A police vehicle would get there in less than twenty minutes, particularly in emergency situations. However, our investigations found that the burn victims of the self-immolation did not get to Jishuitan Hospical until after 5:00 pm (see the first investigative report on the self-immolation incident at …).
Where did the police vehicle go and what did they do during this two hours? Something must have been hidden/covered for the two hours.

1.8 Wang Jindong did not know the basic Falun Gong terms

After the self-immolation video and photos were released, many Falun Gong practitioners pointed out that the Wang Jindong sitting in a meditation position in Tiananmen Square did not comply with the basic requirements of Falun Gong, including the postures of his hands and legs that were not the Falun Gong exercise postures, especially his leg-crossing posture, which is more in line with what is the standard sitting posture of the Chinese military soldiers.

On this, Wang Jindong gave explanations in his "personal statement". He said: "As I flicked on the lighter, instantly the flames engulfed me, I did not have time to sit in the Dapan (great leg crossing) posture so I sat in the single leg crossing posture. Driven by the large flames, the air was making loud noises..." WOIPFLG has asked the Falun Gong practitioners for clarification about this posture and was informed that there is no concept or saying of Dapan in Falun Gong. In the book The Great Consummation Way of Falun Dafa, Chapter Three, Mechanics and Principles of the Exercise Movements ( http://www.falundafa.org/book/eng/dymf_3.htm )instructs: "There are only two kinds of genuine leg crossing: one is called "single-leg crossing" and the other is called "double-leg crossing."

On "single leg-crossing" and "double leg-crossing" the book explained: "This posture can only be used as a transition, as a last resort, when you aren't able to sit with both legs crossed. Single-leg crossing is done with one leg below and the other above." "We don't ask much for the single-leg crossing since we actually require double-leg crossing, not single-leg crossing... ...to sit with both legs crossed, which means that from the single-leg crossing posture you pull the leg from underneath to the top, pull it from the outside, not the inside. This is double-leg crossing."

Therefore, Wang Jindong's leg crossing posture in Tiananmen is not what he described in "Wang's personal statement" as "single leg-crossing". His leg crossing posture was not "with one leg below and the other above"; therefore it is not the Falun Gong posture of "single leg-crossing".

1.9 Did Wang Jindong go to Tiananmen in December 2000?

In "Wang's Personal Statement", Wang Jindong did not mention the occasion that in December 2000, both he and his wife went to Tiananmen Square together to raise a banner and were arrested. On 5 May 2002, China Youth newspaper published an article of "Wang Jindong's family members escape from Falun Gong cult's control - from the beginning to end"[8] in which it was mentioned. It said that, "On 19 December, 2000, the three members of Wang's family went to Tiananmen Square. One month later, Wang Jindong raised a banner 'safeguarding the Fa' at the site of the self-immolation and was stopped by the Public Security Police and was taken into a police vehicle." In the article "Special Interview with Wang Juan", it stated the place and time as following: "She (Wang Juan) said that at the end of 2000, she went to Tiananmen with her mother to 'hong Fa' ('magnificent Fa' -- wrong use of Chinese word), but they were sent to the detention center because it was considered as a disturbance to social order." That is to say, Wang Juan never brought up the occasion that Wang Jindong went to Tiananmen Square with the "mother and daughter".

1.10 What did Wang Jindong shout?

In "Wang's personal statement", Wang Jindong said that he "stood up and shouted loudly: 'Truth, compassion and forbearance [zhen, shan and ren] is the universal law. It is the law which everyone must follow. My Master is the chief Buddha.'" However, the People's Liberation Army Newspaper published an article on January 27, 2002 entitled "Tiananmen armed police pfficers: the claim of the self-immolation as staged is a slander on the government". It stated: "The former third squadron sixth squad leader Shang Jianguo told the journalist via telephone that he was the leader of those on duty in the square that day, and he personally heard the first person who lit a petrol bottle shout loudly 'The great law of the universe is the law that everyone must experience.'"

1.11 What were Wang Jindong and others doing on the day of "self Immolation"?

In the article "From beginning to end", it was said that: "In the morning of 23 [January], with the help of a stubborn Falun Gong person, they bought a box of Sprite soft drinks, then emptied the bottles and filled them with petrol. After that, they took some blades and lighters, and went to Tiananmen Square by taxi, ready to go ahead with the self-immolation plan. Due to the New Year celebration held in the Great Hall of the People, the square was closed to car parking, so they could only sneak and wander near the square. It was in the afternoon when the square reopened that the horrific plan was put into action, … ."

According to this report, the so called self-immolators went to Tiananmen in the morning but could not enter into the square, so "they could only sneak and wander near the square", and were only able to enter the square "in the afternoon when the square reopened" that they began setting fire on themselves.

Yet in the article "Wang's personal statement", it stated: "On 23 January, which was the Chinese New Year's eve, the seven of us got up very early. After breakfast we went directly to Liu Xiuqin's home. When we entered the door, Liu said that the petrol had leaked and smelled very strong. So I had to go to Liulichang and bought some bags. By the time I came back, it was already around 1pm in the afternoon."

"The other people could not wait any longer, so they decided to use soft drink bottles. Liu Yunfang and I hung the bottles on our necks and secured the bottles under our armpits with sticky tape, then we put on our wool jumpers, followed by cotton-padded (quilted) jackets. After that, we took with us the single-edged blades and lighters which Hao Huijun had purchased in advance. Everyone took their money out of their pockets around 2.30 pm and agreed to act individually. He Huijun, Chen Guo, Liu Chunling and Liu Siying went downstairs first, caught a taxi and left. Liu Yunfang, Liu Baorong and I took a taxi and went directly to Tiananmen Square. The taxi stopped at the south end of Great Hall of the People, and we walked slowly towards the square."

Therefore, according to Wang Jindong's own words, on 23 January, he went to Liulichang to buy petrol bags on his own and only got back to Liu Xiuqin's home "at around 1 pm in the afternoon", while the others were obviously busy filling the petrol into the bottles and did not go to Tiananmen Square.

1.12 Did Chen Guo go to the train station to pick up people?

In the article "From beginning to end", it was said that once Wang Jindong's group arrived at Beijing, "In the morning of 17 January, Chen Guo planned to pick up people at the Beijing West Station"; yet in "Wang's personal statement", it was said that "After arriving in Beijing, we went to the gate of Central Musical College by bus, and Chen Guo took us to a practitioner's house". According to this description, Chen Guo did not go to Beijing West Station, and Wang Jindong and others met Chen Guo at the Central Musical College after they took a bus to get there. [Translator's note: the above translation is slightly different from the Chinese version for the last sentence. In the Chinese version, the first two sentences do not lead to the last sentence. Best not say they found Chen Guo at …, but use 'they met Chen at …']

1.13 What was the name of Wang Jindong's daughter?

In the article "Special Interview with Wang Juan", Wang Jindong's daughter was known as 'Wang Juan' in the whole article. But on Xinhua Net, there was an article published on the 28th March 2001, titled "Spring wind brings rains and dissolves hard ice - the story of how self- immolator Wang Jindong's wife and daughter were transformed"[9] (referred to as "Story of transformation" below), in which Wang Jindong's daughter was always named as Wang Juanjuan.

For news reports, the names of the people involved is one of the most critical elements in news. Every professional reporter will pay great attention to the accuracy of such fundamental information. The report 'Transformation story' was more than 4,600 words long, the name Wang Juanjuan appeared 37 times. We considered that it is highly unlikely that the different references to Wang Juan and Wang Juanjuan were due to typo errors.

1.14 Where, when and how did Wang Jindong's wife and daughter became transformed?

In the article "Special interview with Wang Juan", Wang Juan said, "At the end of 2000, she and her mother went to Tiananmen for the so called 'hong fa'(promoting Falun Gong), and they were detained for the charge of 'disturbing social order'. Before then, she had heard some other Falun Gong practitioners say that once you are detained, you will be tortured badly, and you had to stay in dark and horrifying cells which are very small. Yet after being put into the detention center themselves, she found that the place was clean and dry, and the surrounding was nice too. In particular, the staff there treated them as if they were their own family members, they took care of them in minute detail and treated them warmly. Such solid facts had taught them a lesson and they were transformed in a short time, and decided to break from Falun Gong completely."

In this article, the point is that Wang Jindong's wife and daughter had found the staff people warm and nice during their detention period at the end of year 2000, and for this reason, they were "transformed."

However, in the article "Story of transformation", more than 4000 words were written to describe how Henan Women's Labour Camp was able to finally 'transform' the mother and daughter after 'much hard work'. For example, they used a method of 'chatting about family matters' to study these two people's minds, then they made up strategies of "One policy one person, targeting the important points, resolving by dismantling, and taking over rapidly" in order to transform the mother and daughter. The mother and daughter had also been put into different groups. They found three already 'transformed' people from their home city, Kai Feng, in order to transform them. After Wang Juanjuan was transformed, she helped the labour camp to transform her mother He Haihua.

However, according to a news article from the BBC Chinese net, dated 5th April 2002, titled "China arranges interviews of Falun Gong self immolators" ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/chinese/news/newsid_1912000/19124081.stm ), it was said that, "Wang Jindong's daughter said she decided to give up Falun Gong only 10 minutes after entering the labour camp."

In BBC and Chinese official reports, on the 3rd April 2002, the Chinese government arranged 12 Chinese and International media to interview Wang Jindong and others. BBC's report "Arranged Interview" said that "The Chinese government had always refused any International media to interview on the self-immolation event, yet all of a sudden, foreign reporters were arranged to interview the self-immolation survivors."

BBC's special reporter also said that the Chinese government's intention of this arranged interview was obviously an effort to prove the legitimacy of the government's persecution towards Falun Gong.

According to the BBC's report, Wang Jindong's daughter should have told the reporters in person that she "decided to give up Falun Gong only 10 minutes after entering the labour camp". This leaves a big difference in how long it took for her become transformed in comparisons to what were described in the articles "Special Interview with Wang Juan" and "Story of transformation".

Furthermore, according to our understanding, China's Detention Centre and Labour Education Centre (Westerners refer this as 'labour camp') are two totally different concepts and places. The environments, rules and polices for detainees' daily life are totally different. "Detention Centre" is a temporary place of detention for those who are arrested but have not yet received a court decision, or those in the process of appeal. Detention centres are administrated by the Department of Public Security. On the other hand, a labour camp is a specific place for holding people who are under 'labour re-education (also known as labour education)'. The labour camps are administrated by the local Bureau of Labour Education. So the two articles, "Special interview with Wang Juan" and "Story of transformation", demonstrated a huge difference on the reported location as well.

2. Further Analysis of the Self-Immolation

2.1 Suspicious Points of Xinhua's Reports

The article "From beginning to end" was Xinhua's first detailed report on the self-immolation. However, the author's name was nowhere to be found in this article - this clearly violated the most fundamental principle of news reports.

Another point is that this article gave a very concrete and vivid description of the self-immolation scenes. For example, "At 2:41 pm, northeast of the People's Heros' Monument, a man in his fifties, facing west, sat in a "leg-crossing" posture, and continuously poured liquid over his body from a green plastic bottle. Afterwards, red flames burst out from the man's the body, exuding a pall of dark smoke. Amid the roaring inferno of flame, this man screamed with the top of his voice and with all his might, …", "almost at the same time, at the northeastern side of the square, a middle-aged woman suddenly took out from her bag a Sprite bottle. She opened her mouth and gulped a few times on the liquid, and also poured it all over her body. At that moment, the pungent smell of petrol filled the air", "at the northeastern side of People's Heros' Memorial Monument, four policemen discovered the self-immolation of the man in his fifties first. They quickly took out the fire extinguishers, and rushed to his side with maximum speed, …. In less than one minute, four fire extinguishers had been used by the police, which quickly put out the flames on the man; he was then rushed to the hospital in the police vehicle on duty … ."
These concrete and vivid details can only be obtained if one is actually present on the scene. From the report, however, we cannot tell how the author obtained these details. The whole article did not mention anything about interviewing any eye-witnesses.

2.2 Suspicious points in the CCTV report

People, both in China and abroad, have queried how the policemen were able to find dozens of fire extinguishers in less than one minute. To answer this, the Chinese government's media explained that the police vehicles patrolling Tienanmen Square were equipped with fire extinguishers, and one of the policemen putting out the fire was able to sprint one hundred meters in '13 seconds'.

According to the article "From beginning to end", the flames on the five self-immolators were put out in less than seven minutes, and then the police vehicles "sped expeditiously towards the emergency center in Xiuan Wu district" ("A True Account of the Self-Immolation").

Let's say that if the policeman who "put out the fire" did possess the ability to sprint one hundred meters in "13 seconds", then what sort of a sprinter must the cameraman be in order to film the girl, Liu Si Ying, who cried out again and again, "mum, mum…" before she was put into the ambulance? --- carrying the camera, the cameraman had to arrive at the scene before the ambulance did, which meant coming from the CCTV station which was several kilometers away, setting up the camera and choosing the angle for the close-up of Liu Si Ying --- all in less than seven minutes. And who tipped off CCTV that the self-immolation was happening right then, anyway?

3 According to the progress of the above investigations, our organisation will now publicize the names of the second group of witnesses from whom evidence is collected. They are:

(1) Xinhua News Agency reporters and authors of the article "A special interview with Tiananmen selfimmolator Wang Jindong's daughter Wang Juan" Jiang Yaping, Lu Dasheng, as well as of Wang Jindong's daughter Wang Juan and his wife He Haihua, who were mentioned in the report;
(2) Xinhua News Agency reporters and authors Wang Hengtao and Zhaiwei of the article "The accusations of Wang Jindong, participant of the Tiananmen self immolation incident", editor-in-charge Li Dongshuai of the article, and He Jinju, the sister of He Haihua as mentioned in the report;
(3) Guang Ming Daily journalist Wang Guangrong who wrote the article "Those days which seemed like a nightmare - recollection by former obsessed Falun Gong follower Wang Jindong's family";
(4) Zhong Xin News Agency reporter Pan Xulin, who wrote the article "Tiananmen Square self-immolator Wang Jindong, Xue Hongjun recounts ridiculous incident", editor Qibin and the person in charge of Zheng Zhou (capital city of Henan province ) Jail as mentioned in the report;
(5) Author of the article "The whole story on the self immolation of obsesed Falun Gong follower in Tiananmen Square", (author's name to be further investigated, not revealed by Chinese authorities), the Xinhua news agency photographer Xiaoyu, who contributed the photos for the article;
(6) China Youth Daily reporter Wang Haizhou, who wrote the article "The story of Wang Jindong's family breaking free from Falun Gong's control", the People Net (www.people.com.cn) editor-in-charge ZangWenli, and Wang Juan's boyfriend Wang Yang and Japanese language tutor Lin Kuicheng, as mentioned in the report;
(7) PLA Daily reporters Yue Xuangxi and Zhang Jianjun, who wrote the article "Tiananmen armed police officer: suggesting the self immolation incident was 'staged act is slandering the government", and captain Wang Qiang, from the military Tiananmen detachment Third group, mentioned in the report, former sixth squad leader now retired Shang Jianguo, instructor Yang Quansong, detachment adminstrator Li Fengge, all mentioned in the article.
(8) Xinhua News Agency reporters Peng Hong, Wang Hengtao and Li Lijing, who wrote the article "A record of the transformation of Tiananmen self-immolator Wang Jindong's wife and daughter", police officers of the 3rd Division of Henan Province Female Labour Re-education Camp, mentioned in the report, Captain Wang Shulan, discipline officer Liu Baolan, former "Falun Gong" practitioner Yao Peimin, Qin Yinpan and Chang Suzhen of the Fourth Division;
(9) Beijing Evening News reporter Yang Hao, who wrote the article "To maintain peace in Tiananmen - a record of how obsessed Falun Gong followers in self-immolation were dealt with", Beijing City People's Police School's Year 1999 graduate Xiao Wang, police officers Xiao Yang, Xiao Kong, Beijing Second Police School's Year 1999 graduate Xiao Yuan, as mentioned in the report;
(10) BBC News writer, who wrote the article "China arranges interview with Falun Gong self-immolators".
WOIPFLG will seek to collect evidence from these people through various means, whether directly or indirectly, at appropriate times. This would be part of the investigative actions into the "Tiananmen Square Self Immolation Case" and would be implemented as of today.
WOIPFLG appeals to insiders to continue to provide all information related to this case on the grounds of justice.

Investigation of the persecution of Falun Gong International organization "Tiananmen self immolation"incident investigation committee

List of articles: [please note: the <<"?????">> indicate Chinese titles which did not copy over from the original translation.]

[1] Special interview Special interview with Wang Juan the daughter of self-immolator Wang Jindong(Back)
[2] Wang's accusation Tiananmen Square self-immolator Wang Jindong's accusation(Back)
[3] Recalls - In those dream days --- Recalls from the family members of former infatuated 'Falun Gong' practitioner Wang Jindong(Back)
[4] Follies - Tiananmen Square self-immolators Wang Jindong and Xue Hongjun recall follies(Back)
[5] Wang's personal statement - Wang Jindong's personal statement on the 23 January Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident(Back)
[6] From beginning to end - Infatuated Falun Gong practitioners' self-immolation incident - from beginning to end(Back)
[7] A record of self-immolation - For Tiananmen's Tranquility - a record of handling the infatuated Falun Gong practitioners self-immolation(Back)
[8] Family members escape- Wang Jindong's family members escape from Falun Gong cult's control - from the beginning to end(Back)
[9] Story of Transformation - Spring wind brings rains and dissolves hard ice - the story of how self- immolator Wang Jindong's wife and daughter were transformed(Back)
?? --- infatuated
??? --- zhongxin newsagency
????? --- Great Hall of the People (http://www.china.org.cn/english/archiveen/27695.htm)

World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong

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