(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioners from San Francisco area conducted a series of activities over the past few days to demand that the Chinese government release American citizen and Falun Gong practitioner Charles Lee, who has been incarcerated for two years in China. Their activities received support from U.S. Congress members. The following is a transcript of a report by Radio Free Asia correspondent in San Francisco, CK.
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The Falun Gong activity was held in Union Square located in downtown San Francisco. According to Ms. Zhao Chen, the coordinator of the activity, since Charles Lee was arrested and sentenced to jail, the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai has negotiated with related Chinese authorities and reached the agreement that the U.S. Consulate can send an official periodically to visit Charles in Nanjing Prison. The U.S. Consulate in Shanghai would then update Charles' situation to San Francisco practitioners and Charles' fiancée Yeong-ching Foo through the U.S. Department of State.
Zhao Chen: According to recent news from the U.S. Department of State, Charles Lee has encountered some heart problems. We are very concerned about his health. Because of long periods of torture many Falun Gong practitioners' health has failed, and some have even died as a result.
Charles Lee was arrested at Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou City on January 22, 2003 when he went back from the U.S. to his home in Yangzhou, China. On March 22, the Yangzhou Court sentenced Charles to three years in prison for "sabotaging broadcast equipment" without any accurate evidence. Charles Lee went on hunger strike to protest his imprisonment in Nanjing Prison over the past two years, but he was force-fed. He was forced to work more than 10 hours a day. What is especially intolerable for Charles was the mental torture. Yeong-ching Foo once recounted his situation to this reporter.
Yeong-ching Foo: The Jiang group used various means to force Charles Lee to give up his practice of Falun Gong. When Charles did not do so, they then forced him to attend brainwashing classes.
Recently, Falun Gong practitioners' activities also received support from San Francisco Congresswoman, Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi and Co-Chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, Tom Lantos. Pelosi met with Charles Lee's fiancée Yeong-ching Foo last week in Washington DC. Ms. Farrar from Lantos' office came to the Union Square to read a statement in support of Falun Gong practitioners.
Mr. Lantos' statement, read by Ms. Farrar, pointed out that we must make our stand clear to the Chinese government that we refuse to accept the physical and mental torture experienced by Charles Lee. We refuse to accept the unjust treatment toward hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners, until they are all released.
The above is reported by RFA special correspondent CK.
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