新聞聲明：自焚事件的真實情況到底是甚麼？

【明慧網2001年1月30日】 Press Statement
新聞聲明
New York Falun Dafa InfoCenter
For Immediate Release
January 30, 2001
紐約法輪大法信息中心
即刻發布
2001年元月30日

Once again, the Chinese state-run media has made a mockery of itself by producing a so- called Falun Gong suicide story.
參考譯文：中國官方控制的媒體編造所謂的法輪功自殺事件，再一次嘲弄了自己。

The Chinese press has run a story on some unidentified persons who claim that they are among those five so-called Falun Gong practitioners who attempted self-immolation on Tiananmen Square last week. After a week of preparation, the Chinese Government has now added two more persons to the group, bringing the total to seven. They are now claiming that one of those involved was a 12 year-old girl. CNN eyewitness reports had said that there were only five people involved, in which the woman was known to have died from her injuries. What is the real story?
中國輿論編造一些身份不明的人聲稱他們當時在上週試圖在天安門廣場自焚的五位所謂的法輪功學員之中，經過一週的準備，中國官方現又加進了兩個人，使自焚的人數從五位變成七個，現今他們還聲稱自焚的其中一位是一個十二歲的女孩，而據CNN目擊者報導說在場的只有五位，其中那名婦女已知死於自焚。（這些矛盾的說法讓人不禁想問：）真實情況到底是甚麼呢？

There is no proof that these people in this Xinhua News report are Falun Gong practitioners. Nor is it clear that these are the same people who set themselves afire on Tiananmen Square. Those who have read books of Falun Gong will clearly see that the language used and the actions exhibited by them are foreign to genuine Falun Gong practitioners. We would like to reiterate that the teachings of Falun Gong strictly prohibit any form of killing, including suicide. We call upon the Chinese government to allow independent third-party investigation by international human rights groups, United Nations, and the world press.
沒有任何證據證明這則新華社報導中的人是法輪功學員，也不清楚他們是否就是天安門廣場自焚的那些人，讀過法輪功著作的人們可以清楚地看到那些人所使用的語言和表現的行為根本就不是法輪功學員。我們在此重申，法輪功教導人們禁止任何形式的殺生包括自殺，我們呼籲中國政府允許國際人權組織、聯合國和國際媒體以第三者身份進行獨立調查。

It is a tragedy that those who originally set fire to themselves had been driven to such a desperate act, whether because they were so disenfranchised by Chinese society or because they had been set up by the Chinese regime. In either case, it gives us pause as to what China has come to that such a grisly incident could have occurred.
無論是被中國社會逼得走投無路，抑或是被中國當局用來陷害他人，那些自焚的人走到如此絕境都是一場悲劇。不管是何種可能的情況，都讓我們感到困惑：居然會發生這樣一個恐怖事件，究竟中國怎麼了？

（2001年1月30日美東時間上午11：00譯稿）