Letter from Ireland Friends of Falun Gong to Australian Authorities

(Clearwisdom.net)

March 11, 2003

Dear.....

I am writing to you as a representative of the Friends of Falun Gong in Ireland to express extreme concern for the safety of Mr. Wang Juntao (66) and his wife Mrs. Wang Liluan (62), who are due to be deported back to China.

Mr. and Mrs. Wang are Falun Gong practitioners. Three years ago, Mr. Wang's brother in law was tortured to death for practicing Falun Gong. Three and a half years ago, Mr. Wang himself was knocked unconscious as a result of electric shock torture by Chinese prison guards. He had been arrested while having a meal with his brother and son. When Mrs. Wang arrived at the detention centre to appeal for her husband, she too was arrested. When they were released after a month, their identification was confiscated.

Since they managed to escape to Australia, the Chinese authorities have ransacked their house without warrant and fired their son from his job. It is an undoubted fact that the Chinese authorities will be aware of the Wang's status as Falun Gong practitioners. It is also an undoubted fact that on return to China they will both be liable to arrest, detention, and torture in a labor camp. The fact that this is happening in China to Falun Gong practitioners on a regular basis is extremely well documented. As has been admitted by Chinese officials, a minimum of 1,600 practitioners have died as a result of this torture, and the real figure is certainly much higher.

To read what is happening to Falun Gong practitioners in detention centers and labor camps is extremely harrowing. To hear somebody recounting their experiences of such torture first hand is doubly so. I have heard first hand a practitioner from Ireland, Zhao Ming, describe his experiences during his 22 months of detention without trial in a Chinese labor camp for practicing Falun Gong. As somebody who is also a long-time member of Amnesty International, I can honestly say that the torture that he and other Falun Gong members have been exposed to, is as severe as any experienced by victims of torture anywhere in the world at any time.

Mr. and Mrs. Wang were due to be deported earlier today, but were allowed off the plane by a flight attendant who discovered that Mr. Wang has a heart condition. I am asking you, on behalf of all the Falun Gong practitioners here in Ireland, to reconsider their request for humanitarian leave to remain in Australia. I must also remind you that to return the Wangs to the detention and torture they would face in China is contrary to the non-refoulement clause in both the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

I am appealing to you, on behalf of Friends of Falun Gong in Ireland, to treat the Wangs in a fair and sympathetic manner, as befits their age and state of health, as well as the risk they face, and not to send them back to China. I hope that you will listen to this plea.

Yours sincerely,

[Representative of Ireland Friends of Falun Gong]

Article from: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200303/10918.html