Wednesday 21 November 2001

They knew what the risks of demonstrating in Tiananmen Square in Beijing were.

Yet seven Falun Gong followers chose to go there and be subjected to the Chinese police's brutal methods. Expressen has read the letter in which one of the Swedes explains why.

The Chinese police are known for their brutal methods against Falun Gong followers in China.

Yesterday seven Swedes experienced this for themselves. A group of 36 Westerners, together with Chinese Falun Gong adherents, gathered in Tiananmen Square to demonstrate against the torture and persecution of the movement's followers in China.

Even this time the police ruthlessly struck at the demonstrators and arrested, amongst others, seven Swedes.

One of the Swedes who was arrested, Roland Odar, had his mobile phone with him and was able to phone from the prison and tell of his brutal arrest and the way in which he was assaulted.

"In the square a large number of policemen quickly surrounded us. They dragged me into a car and punched me several times in the face with their fists. They then trampled on my head and kicked me all over my body. Several of the other practitioners were also assaulted. The women were dragged by the hair," he told TT.

Roland Odars family did not know that their son was in China.

"We warned him about going to China and he knew we were worried, so he never said that he was going to go, he just left a note," says Rolands father, Lennart Odar.

Yvonne Kleberg also suspected that she could be arrested in China and thus left a letter in Sweden, which Expressen has read.

The Swedes were released yesterday. They are most likely to arrive in Sweden some time this evening.

The letter from Yvonne Kleberg about why she took the risk ending up in a Chinese prison reads as follows:

"I am going to China for the sake of the Chinese practitioners, so that they can feel that they are not alone in this terrible situation.

In this way, I want to get the surrounding world to focus on China and the extreme atrocities that are taking place over there. The Chinese Falun Gong practitioners are living with dreadful torture. They cannot make their voices heard anywhere. Many of them are living like refugees in their own country. It does not only affect 100 million practitioners; it affects their families, their work colleagues, and their employers too.

As a Falun Gong practitioner and a citizen of the world, I consider it very important to stand up for what Falun Dafa stands for: Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance."