By Alexander Dworkowitz
A contingent of 27 Queens practitioners of the Chinese sect known as the Falun Gong have filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court in Jamaica against two Chinese newspapers, alleging that the papers slandered their group.
Former Queens Councilman Sheldon Leffler and Paul Kerson are representing the plaintiffs, who include 70 residents of New York City, New Jersey and China as well as Friends of Falun Gong, a non-profit organization.
“If there’s a case of defamation, this is it,” said Leffler at a May 22 rally in front of the building of The China Press, a Chinese language newspaper in midtown Manhattan.
Falun Gong is a practice based in exercise that was outlawed in China in 1999. Since that time, several hundred of its practitioners have been tortured to death in the communist country, the international human rights organization Amnesty International has said.
In the lawsuit filed at the beginning of May, the Falun Gong members contend China Press has published seven libelous articles about the group in its New York edition since September 2001. Sing Tao Daily, also a Chinese language newspaper with a Manhattan office, has published two slanderous stories in that time period, the suit alleged.
Leffler and Kerson chose to bring the case to court in Queens because many of the plaintiffs are from the borough and the two lawyers are experienced in dealing with Queens courts.
State Supreme Court Judge Duane Hart has ordered representatives of the China Press and Sing Tao Daily to appear in his Jamaica courtroom June 6 to respond to the suit.
The plaintiffs are seeking $50 million in damages from the China Press and $1 million in damages from Sing Tao Daily.
A spokesman for the China Press said the paper would not comment on the lawsuit.
Sing Tao Daily could not be reached for comment.
The lawsuit speaks directly to the Chinese-American population of Queens, and in particular Flushing, which has one of the largest concentrations of Chinese Americans in the country. Since many of these residents speak little English, Chinese-language newspapers such as the China Press and Sing Tao Daily are the main source of information for many living in Queens.
The newspapers cover both Chinese Americans and events in China. Translated by associates of the plaintiffs in the case, the articles that Leffler and Kerson presented to Hart vary in content. Some discuss Chinese citizens accused of murder who are said to be Falun Gong practitioners, while one story explains why practicing Falun Gong is “likely to induce psychotic syndrome.”
Leffler called an article that appeared in the Sept. 20, 2001 edition of Sing Tao Daily the “most egregious” of the nine.
The article’s headline reads “Radical religions advocate destroying the world,” according to the plaintiff’s translation. The article contains a photo of Falun Gong practitioners on the same page as a photo of the Sept. 11 destruction of the World Trade Center.
“Falun Gang allegedly lead people to superstition delude people into setting themselves alight and self-mutilation in order to achieve the ‘consummation’ to ascend heaven,’” the translation reads.
“The hurt that results from these articles is real,” said Janet Xiong, a Flushing resident and Falun Gong practitioner at the May 22 rally supporting the group.
Xiong said Falun Gong practitioners were harassed at a May 13 march through Manhattan’s Chinatown celebrating the group’s 10th anniversary.
“As the parade made its way through Chinatown, we were confronted by a mob [that yelled] derogatory slogans that came directly from the articles,” she said.
Susan Prager, a spokeswoman for the Friends of Falun Gong, said the editorial policy of the two papers was influenced by the Chinese government .
“American residents and citizens are being persecuted right here on American soil by a foreign government,” she said.
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 141.
