Saturday, 29-Jun-2002 12:00PM
HONG KONG, June 29 (AFP) - Hong Kong authorities have detained or deported at least 80 Falun Gong practitioners ahead of celebrations to mark the fifth anniversary of the territory's reversion to Chinese rule, a group spokeswoman said Saturday.
Spokeswoman Sophie Xiao said between 40 and 50 Falun Gong [practitioners] were stopped after landing at Hong Kong's international airport on a flight from Taiwan late Saturday night.
Another 44 from countries including Taiwan, Australia, France, Germany and Singapore, were denied entry on Saturday and the previous six days after arriving at the airport.
Xiao claimed some of the practitioners had been "manhandled" while being put on flights back to their countries of origin, [...]
The immigration department has consistently said it will not comment on individual cases of detention and deportation at the airport.
A Falun Gong [practitioner] who was detained on Friday, Vina Li, said immigration officials had cited "security reasons" for their decision to refuse entry to her and other traveling companions.
Li, who arrived from Sydney, Australia, told AFP by phone while still at the airport she was visiting Hong Kong for "personal business" and not specifically to participate in any protests against Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit Monday.
Jiang is coming to Hong Kong as part of the handover celebrations.
Li said she had visited the territory many times before without incident and was unaware how immigration officials knew she was a Falun Gong practitioner this time round, hinting at the existence of an immigration "blacklist".
[...]
Li said she was going to be deported back to Australia on the next available flight while other practitioners were also likely be sent back to their respective countries later Saturday.
The practitioners were hoping to join a mass demonstration planned to mark the five years since the former British colony was handed back to China on July 1, 1997.
[...]
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/au/Qhongkong-sect.RwMG_CuS.html
Background Information
"Falun Dafa takes 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance', the universal truth, as the standard for cultivation practice. It cultivates goodness and is peaceful. All of Dafa's activities are open to the public, and the practice is voluntary. Each practitioner is from different walks of life, and there are no activities that violate the law or that are harmful to society. Since July 20, 1999, when the gang inside the Chinese government that's led by the head political scoundrel began to suppress Falun Gong practitioners, more than 100 million people have been unjustifiably persecuted; more than 100,000 people have been sent to jails, to forced labor camps, and to mental hospitals; more than 1,000 people have been persecuted to death without cause; and this type of persecution still continues. Because of this, the students of Falun Gong are doing all they can to let the world's people and governments know the truth about this persecution and the degree of its wickedness. In particular, when the head of the evil goes abroad to put on a show, practitioners would go to the countries that it goes to in order to protest."
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Category: Persecution Outside China
