Editor's note: Clearwisdom has received many heart-felt letters in the past week expressing deep concern over the politically motivated prosecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, we cannot post them all, so we have chosen the following letters as representative samples.
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Dear Sir or Madam,
I am an American Falun Dafa practitioner, a businessman, and an enthusiast for the freedom of belief. I am writing to you today about the court case involving 16 Falun Gong appellants arrested by police outside Hong Kong's Chinese Liaison Office. This case has become quite a topic for concern outside of Hong Kong as it brings up the issue of "One Country, Two Systems".
Is the right to peaceful appeal becoming jeopardized in Hong Kong. If spiritual practitioners, believing in truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, become a center point for injustice in Hong Kong it will become clear to the world that Hong Kong is very much under control by the Jiang Regime.
The court case ruling will be concluded later this week and the outcome may change that world's view of Hong Kong. Is Hong Kong a place that allows freedom of belief or is it a place that will go to all evils to suppress good people for having moral and spiritual values.
When the presiding Judge sustains prosecution's objection and taunts defense lawyers in court by shouting, "Fight like a man." (8/3/2002 0:54) it can be seen, even by a layperson, that this case is not right. Video evidence is available backing up the defense and the case should have been dismissed immediately. With the persecution of Falun Dafa in China becoming more and more apparent to the world, seemingly simple acts will create a big impact. I hope you can see the truth behind this case and do all you can for those whom believe in truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
Sincerely,
A concerned Falun Dafa practitioner and American businessman.
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Dear Madam/Sir,
I am writing to express my concern over the trial of 16 Falun Gong practitioners that is currently taking place in Hong Kong. From what I have seen, these 16 people were simply conducting a peaceful protest. It was bad enough for the Hong Kong police to have dragged them away by force. I find it hard to understand how they could be formally charged and tried in open court. It is definitely a miscarriage of justice and obvious result of intense pressure from Jiang Zemin's government. As an American citizen of Chinese descent who wants what is best for the Chinese people, including the people of Hong Kong, I am deeply distressed by what is happening in Hong Kong merely 5 years after it was returned to China under the pledge of "one country, two systems."
Over the past three years, over 400 Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted to death, and hundreds of thousands of them have been arrested, tortured, and sent to labor camps. They have done absolutely nothing wrong. The only thing that they have in common is that they have to be good people who follow "Truthfulness Benevolence Forbearance." I urge you to follow your conscience and do everything you can to help the 16 Falun Gong practitioners on trial and hundreds of millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Let me close my letter with a quote from George Washington Carver, "How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these."
Sincerely,
Texas
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Dear sir or madam,
I and my friends in the United States are very concerned about the Swiss and Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioners who were arrested for making an appeal outside the Chinese Liaison office and are now on trial. I hope that this is a mistake on the part of the police, because those individuals, as media reports indicate, possessed a valid permit to demonstrate there and their appeal - captured on a videotape - was indeed very peaceful. I assure you that many people in the United States are closely watching the development of this trial, whose judge is held to be controversial and prejudiced. But I am also hopeful that Hong Kong government will make the right choice and dismiss the unfair proceedings against those practitioners.
Yours Sincerely,
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Dear sir/madam,
I was very shocked to hear the trial of Falun Gong in HK. How come a free and democratic HK cannot tolerate someone who is trying to help those suffering and being killed in mainland China? They are our neighbors and fellow Chinese, right? Yet, you are putting those peaceful people on trial. In my humble opinion, it is those who kill innocent Chinese who should be put on trial, not those innocent people who try to voice their concern over this situation.
Five years after HK in the hands of mainland China, it does somehow show that its democracy is eroding away, which is something really pains our overseas Chinese's hearts.
Once I read in a book, the author said HK was like a "boiled frog", with the temperature slowly rising up. Without realizing the danger coming along the way, the frog comfortably swims in the increasingly warm water, till being boiled to death.
I am trying to share this story with you because there is really a warning sign now:
Today it is Falun Gong, tomorrow who will it be?
Thank you for your attention,
Maryland, US