新闻声明：自焚事件的真实情况到底是什么？

Once again, the Chinese state-run media has made a mockery of itself by producing a so- called Falun Gong suicide story.
参考译文：中国官方控制的媒体编造所谓的法轮功自杀事件，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?
中国舆论编造一些身份不明的人声称他们当时在上周试图在天安门广场自焚的五位所谓的法轮功学员之中，经过一周的准备，中国官方现又加进了两个人，使自焚的人数从五位变成七个，现今他们还声称自焚的其中一位是一个十二岁的女孩，而据CNN目击者报道说在场的只有五位，其中那名妇女已知死于自焚。（这些矛盾的说法让人不禁想问：）真实情况到底是什么呢？

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.
没有任何证据证明这则新华社报导中的人是法轮功学员，也不清楚他们是否就是天安门广场自焚的那些人，读过法轮功著作的人们可以清楚地看到那些人所使用的语言和表现的行为根本就不是法轮功学员。我们在此重申，法轮功教导人们禁止任何形式的杀生包括自杀，我们呼吁中国政府允许国际人权组织、联合国和国际媒体以第三者身份进行独立调查。

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.
无论是被中国社会逼得走投无路，抑或是被中国当局用来陷害他人，那些自焚的人走到如此绝境都是一场悲剧。不管是何种可能的情况，都让我们感到困惑：居然会发生这样一个恐怖事件，究竟中国怎么了？

（2001年1月30日美东时间上午11：00译稿）