Congresswoman
Nancy Pelosi
2457 Rayburn Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

For immediate Release

August 29, 2001

I want to thank the Falun Gong practitioners and their supporters who have spent the last 263 hours to honoring the Falun Gong practitioners in China who have been reported to have been tortured to death, and to call for the release of Dr. Chunyan Teng of the U.S. as well as the release of all other Falun Gong practitioners still imprisoned.

Thousands of people are in prison in China for practicing their belief system: Falun Gong. Hundreds of thousands of practitioners are in reform through labor camps for reeducation by the Chinese. Many are in locked psychiatric facilities to unlearn their beliefs. Whether we agree with it or not, it is not up to us to decide on someone else's religion or their spirituality, and it is inappropriate, it is wrong, when any country detains thousands of people for wanting to freely associate and believe in something.

The U.S. State Department has criticized Beijing's increased repression of democracy activists and religious groups such as Tibetan Buddhists, Chinese Christians and Falun Gong practitioners.

The oppression of peaceful people practicing their spiritual beliefs must end.