[Clearwisdom Net] Dublin, May 2, 2001: Irish Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference today, in which practitioners from Australia and the UK were invited to share their horrific accounts of torture they suffered in China. Ms Mary Lawlor (director of Frontline, The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders), Mr. Frank Jennings (campaign manager of Amnesty International, Irish Section) and Mr. Jim Dowling (spokesperson for "Friends Of Zhao Ming," http://www.fozm.org) spoke at the conference. Newly produced videotape regarding Jiang Zemin's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners was also shown. Nearly all of the attendees, including journalists and Amnesty International members, were touched to tears by the righteousness and bravery of Falun Gong practitioners, and they were indignant at the evil and the corruption of Jiang Zemin's government.
Ms Cuiying Zhang, a practitioner from Australia, shared what she suffered and witnessed in Chinese prisons. Ms Zhang was arrested twice and jailed for 8 months in 4 different prisons in China, where she suffered vicious tortures, including being beaten, stripped, handcuffed, and shackled.
Ms Jane Liang from the UK addressed her sister's ordeal. Her sister was given a sentence of 2 years at a labour camp for meeting with other Falun Gong practitioners in a park in Guangzhou, China. During her incarceration, she was forced to work up to 16 hours a day and tortured by being handcuffed to the top of a door for 3 hours with her feet barely touching the ground.
Ms Dai Dongxue, a Dublin-based computer engineer for Microsoft, introduced her and her family's situation. She was arrested while visiting China in Dec. 1999. Now the Chinese Embassy in Dublin has refused to renew her passport, just because she is a Falun Gong practitioner. Her two sisters and one brother have been detained several times and tortured. One sister was sentenced without trial to a labour camp for 3 years in Jinan in December 2000; the other sister left home and went into hiding to avoid further arrests and detention. Dai could face the same torture, labour camp sentence, and other abuse if she cannot get her passport or work permit renewed. She has appealed for support and help from the Irish government.
"Friends Of Zhao Ming" (FOZM), initiated by Trinity Graduate Student's Union, members of Amnesty International and Falun Gong practitioners, aim to lobby both the Irish and Chinese Governments to obtain the official release of Zhao Ming, who is a Trinity postgraduate student and is now being detained in a Chinese labour camp. They hope to get him back to Trinity College to continue his studies. Details are included in Jim Dowling's speech.
Ms Mary Lawlor stressed, "Last week at the UNCHR, China successfully avoided scrutiny of its human rights record. Having been there, it is clear to me that the Chinese government will go to any lengths to escape censure and public humiliation. So let us speak out loud and clear to the Chinese government: you cannot hide -- wherever you go and wherever you are, the truth will be known." Mr. Frank Jennings exposed the large-scale tortures in China and recounted 4 horrible cases, including that of Ms. Chen Zixiu, a 59 year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Weifang in Shandong province who died after several days' of being tortured.
Falun Gong is a spiritual meditation practice that emerged in China in 1992. It has gained popularity worldwide as a means of improving health and has become increasingly well known as a result of the Chinese government's often-violent suppression. According to human rights groups, over 50,000 practitioners have been arrested and detained without legal representation, and at least 190 people have died as a result of torture and police brutality.
Irish Falun Gong practitioners
May 3, 2001
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Category: April 25 Events
