On the basis of this recommendation, the State Department, in its annual International Religious Freedom Report (November 2005), designated China as a CPC for the sixth consecutive year, noting: "The arrest, detention, and imprisonment of Falun Gong practitioners continued; those who refused to recant their beliefs were sometimes subjected to harsh treatment in prisons and reeducation-through-labor camps, and there were credible reports of deaths due to torture and abuse." The PRC government appears to have been largely successful in not only suppressing FLG activity in China but also discrediting Falun Gong in the eyes of PRC citizens and preventing linkages between Falun Gong and other social protest movements. The largest memberships and severest human rights abuses have been reported in China's northeastern provinces. According to another expert, there are between 15,000 and 25,000 political or religious prisoners in China, half of whom are linked to the Falun Gong movement. On May 19, 2003, U.S. citizen Charles Li was sentenced to three years in prison for "intending to sabotage" Chinese television broadcasts. Alleged Concentration Camps and Organ Harvesting

In March 2006, U.S. Falun Gong representatives claimed that thousands of practitioners had been sent to 36 concentration camps throughout the PRC, particularly in the northeast, and that many of them were killed for profit through the harvesting and sale of their organs. American officials from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and the U.S. consulate in Shenyang visited the area as well as the hospital site on two occasions—the first time unannounced and the second with the cooperation of PRC officials—and after investigating the facility "found no evidence that the site is being used for any function other than as a normal public hospital." The movement has become highly public in the United States. Members regularly stage demonstrations, distribute flyers, and sponsor cultural events. In addition, FLG followers are affiliated with several mass media outlets, including Internet sites. U.S. Government Actions

Since 1999, some Members of the United States Congress have made many public pronouncements and introduced several resolutions in support of Falun Gong. In the 109 th Congress, H.Res. 608 , agreed to in the House on June 12, 2006, condemns the "escalating levels of religious persecution" in China, including the "brutal campaign to eradicate Falun Gong." H.Res. 794 , passed by the House on June 12, 2006, calls upon the PRC to end its most egregious human rights abuses, including the persecution of Falun Gong.
In 1999, the "Falun Gong" movement gave rise to the largest and most protracted public demonstrations in China since the democracy movement of a decade earlier. The People's Republic of China (PRC) government, fearful of a political challenge and the spread of social unrest, outlawed Falun Gong and carried out an intensive, comprehensive, and unforgiving campaign against the movement. Since 2003, Falun Gong has been largely suppressed or pushed deep underground in China while it has thrived in overseas Chinese communities and Hong Kong. The spiritual exercise group has become highly visible in the United States since 1999, staging demonstrations, distributing flyers, and sponsoring cultural events. In addition, Falun Gong followers are affiliated with several mass media outlets. Despite the group's tenacity and political activities overseas, it has not formed the basis of a dissident movement encompassing other social and political groups from China.
The State Department, in its annual International Religious Freedom Report (November 2005), designated China as a "country of particular concern" (CPC) for the sixth consecutive year, noting: "The arrest, detention, and imprisonment of Falun Gong practitioners continued; those who refused to recant their beliefs were sometimes subjected to harsh treatment in prisons and reeducation-through-labor camps, and there were credible reports of deaths due to torture and abuse." In March 2006, U.S. Falun Gong representatives claimed that thousands of practitioners had been sent to 36 concentration camps throughout the PRC. According to their allegations, at one such site in Sujiatun, near the city of Shenyang, a hospital has been used as a detention center for 6,000 Falun Gong prisoners, three-fourths of whom are said to have been killed and had their organs harvested for profit. American officials from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and the U.S. consulate in Shenyang visited the area as well as inspected the hospital on two occasions and "found no evidence that the site is being used for any function other than as a normal public hospital."
Since 1999, some Members of the United States Congress have made many public pronouncements and introduced several resolutions in support of Falun Gong and criticizing China's human rights record. In the 109th Congress, H.Res. 608, agreed to in the House on June 12, 2006, condemns the "escalating levels of religious persecution" in China, including the "brutal campaign to eradicate Falun Gong." H.Res. 794, passed by the House on June 12, 2006, calls upon the PRC to end its most egregious human rights abuses, including the persecution of Falun Gong. In January 2006, U.S. citizen Charles Li was released from a PRC prison after serving a three-year term for "intending to sabotage" broadcasting equipment in China on behalf of Falun Gong.
This report will be updated periodically.