(Clearwisdom.net) Xiong Wei, a Falun Gong practitioner who studied in Germany, was successfully rescued from Chinese labor camps and arrived back in Germany via Frankfurt Airport. Dafa practitioners from Southern Germany and representatives of the German-based International Human Rights Association came to the airport to welcome Xiong Wei. German Falun Gong practitioners thanked the German government, human rights groups and the German public for their help.

Xiong Wei studied at Berlin Industrial University in Germany between 1993 and 1999. She has practiced Falun Gong since 1997. In 1999 she went back to Beijing to work for a Beijing-based branch of a German company.

On January 5, 2002, as she was handing out Falun Gong leaflets in Beijing, Xiong Wei was arrested by the police. She was detained in Qinghe Forced Labor Camp in Beijing, the Forced Labor Camp Distribution Center and the Xinan Women's Forced Labor Camp in Beijing. She went through forced labor education for two years.

After Ms. Xiong's arrest, Falun Gong practitioners in Germany and Israel initiated activities to rescue Xiong Wei. The governments of Germany and Israel, human rights groups and the public expressed their support for the rescue activities. With the intense concern of the international community, Xiong Wei was released on January 4, 2004, but remained under surveillance in China. Shortly after her release from the forced labor camp, German Falun Gong practitioners and the International Human Rights Association based in Germany continued to call on the German government to help Xiong Wei return to Germany to obtain her total freedom. With the help of the German government, Xiong Wei finally returned to Germany.

At the airport, Xiong Wei sincerely thanked the representatives of the International Human Rights Association who came to the airport to welcome her. When they were informed of her arrest, the German-based International Human Rights Association organized petition drives and postcard sending activities in an effort to rescue Xiong Wei. Ms. Wei said, "Every single signature from an overseas citizen, each postcard, every phone call, and every fax all help to ease the persecution and pressure on imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners in China. I sincerely thank the German Government, the human rights groups and kind people for their efforts to secure my release."

Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200410/22263.html