At least 209 Falun Gong practitioners were persecuted to death by the Chinese Communist regime in 2023, according to a new report from Minghui.org—a US-based information website that keeps track of the persecution of the spiritual meditation practice.
Over half of the victims were seniors. The youngest was only 23 years old. Reports say they were subjected to various forms of torture before they died, including sexual abuse, electric batons, and being denied access to the bathroom. Some had their feet burned and some were imprisoned in a cage.
Falun Gong is a spiritual meditation based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. In the 1990s, about 1 in every 13 people in China practiced it, but millions of them were thrown into prison and tortured after the Chinese regime launched a nationwide persecution campaign. Thousands have died, and an unclear number have had their organs harvested from them while they were alive.