The Epoch Times Canada Staff

August 9, 2005

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Xiaoping Hu was deported to China on August 5, despite protests from thousands of Canadians, NGOs and Members of Parliament.

"Our government has not lived up to its responsibility. ...Anyone who faces a risk of human rights abuses in China should be protected from that fate, not cavalierly sent back to harm...", wrote Mr. Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International of Canada, in his statement regarding the deportation.

Falun Gong supporters gathered in front of the offices of the Minister of Public Safety Anne McLellan and Minister of Immigration Joe Volpe on August 9 to express their despair and indignation over what they consider a "tragic deportation of their fellow practitioner," according to a Falun Dafa Association of Canada (FDAC) press statement. They were also dismayed that it took the government three days to make their decision known.

There is strong concern that Ms. Hu may suffer a similar fate to Canadian art professor Kunlun Zhang. Despite being a Canadian citizen, Mr. Zhang's adherence to Falun Gong resulted in Chinese authorities sentencing him to three years in a forced labor camp while he was visiting China in 2000. He was rescued back to Canada in 2001, but not before being severely tortured with an electric baton. He was also forced to denounce his beliefs, and then to thank his torturers on camera, leaving him with a feeling "worse than death."

There are other strong precedents for fearing for Ms. Hu's safety. In a similar case last March, Mr. Jiang Renzheng and his family were sent back to China from Germany because the German refugee board did not consider them to be at risk. One month after arriving in China, Mr. Jiang was taken from his in-laws' home and sentenced to three years of forced labor, leaving his wife and two young children behind.

"We are at a sad loss to comprehend our government's actions today", said Xun Li, president of the FDAC, "We ask our Canadian government to take responsibility for monitoring and ensuring Ms. Hu's safety in China."

Prior to her arrival in Canada, Ms. Hu had already been detained in a brainwashing center in China, and like Mr. Zhang, was forced into renouncing her beliefs. It is clear that she is already well known to Chinese authorities. Also, like Mr. Zhang, she joined more than 200,000 people who have written in to the Clearwisdom.net website to rescind such "conversions" extracted under pressure.

"The determination by the Martin government that a Falun Gong practitioner returned to China is not at risk is precisely analogous to a statement in 1938 that a Jew sent back to Nazi Germany would not be at risk," said Attorney Clive Ansley, a Vancouver Island-based expert on Chinese legal issues.

For Ms. Hu there is another factor that makes her return to China dangerous. While in Canada, she publicly declared her withdrawal from the Chinese Communist Party. According to Hao Fengjun, the former officer of the Gestapo-like 610 Office who defected to Australia in June, the CCP is tracking down and persecuting anyone who openly quits the party.

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