The Ottawa Citizen

Lynn Ball, The Ottawa Citizen / Liberal MP Irwin Cotler an internationally renowned human rights lawyer -- personally took on the case of former McGill University professor KunLun Zhang yesterday. Shown with Mr. Zhang's daughter, LingDi, he described Mr. Zhang's case as 'such a classic case of a prisoner of conscience that it just leaps out at you.'

Political pressure mounted dramatically yesterday on Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley to fight for the release of a Canadian citizen imprisoned in China after Liberal MP Irwin Cotler -- an internationally renowned human rights lawyer -- personally took on the case of former McGill University professor KunLun Zhang.

Mr. Cotler, who has represented such eminent political prisoners as former South African president Nelson Mandela and former Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, described Mr. Zhang as "such a classic case of a prisoner of conscience that it just leaps out at you."

Mr. Cotler's intervention is remarkable because his own government faces growing criticism for its relative inaction in defence of Mr. Zhang, who has been sentenced to three years in a forced labour camp for performing Falun Gong meditation exercises in a public park in July.

The Buddhist-inspired spiritual movement has attracted an estimated 100 million practitioners in China and millions more around the world since it was founded in 1992. But the Chinese government, which viewed Falun Gong's rapid rise in popularity as a threat to the Communist party's control of Chinese society, banned the practice in July 1999.

Over the past 17 months, Beijing has waged a brutal crackdown against Falun Gong in the face of strong resistance from practitioners in China and condemnation from human rights organizations and practitioners abroad.

"The arrest, detention, torture and sentencing of Professor Zhang for nothing other than being a member of a peaceful spiritual movement known as the Falun Gong -- is a case study of the persistent and pervasive assault on human rights in China today," said an impassioned Mr. Cotler, "and a case study of the attempt to suppress the fundamental freedoms of the Falun Gong in particular."

Although Mr. Cotler aimed his strongest criticisms at the Chinese government and tried to draw a line between his role as Mr. Zhang's lawyer and his role as a Liberal MP, he also called on the federal government to harden its line with China and "specifically seek and secure the release of Professor Zhang and his wife ShuMei Zhang," who is under house arrest.

That placed Mr. Cotler in accord with Bloc Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde and Canadian Alliance MP Scott Reid, who also called on Mr. Chretien and Mr. Manley to take a stronger stand against Beijing in the Zhang case, on the broader Falun Gong crackdown and more generally on human rights abuses.

"The Canadian message has changed from condemnation to complacency, even though it is one of our own citizens that has fallen victim to these horrific acts," said Mr. Reid.

And referring to a planned Team Canada trade mission to China in February, Mr. Reid also urged Mr. Chretien to "rethink his trade mission unless Mr. Zhang's safety can be guaranteed and a date for his release can be provided."

Although Mr. Cotler said "the prime minister will make his own judgment" about postponing the trade mission in protest, and that "trade itself can be a form of broadening a liberal engagement" with China, he also warned that "trade cannot be a cover for the suppression of human rights."

He added that Canada must not pursue "profit at the expense of principle."

So far, Canada's response to the jailing of Mr. Zhang has been a formal request through diplomatic channels to have Canadian consular officials visit him in detention. But the Chinese government has firmly rejected the requests, describing Falun Gong as [...] and arguing that because Mr. Zhang entered China using his Chinese passport "the Canadian government, in turn, no longer has the consular right of protection over Mr. Zhang."

Mr. Cotler ridiculed China for "trying to use the pretext" that Mr. Zhang's choice of passport should lead to his imprisonment for meditating in a park. "Even if he wasn't a Canadian citizen, these are violations of his human rights and fundamental freedoms in China" under international treaties signed by the Chinese government.

While expressing his support for the efforts of Canadian embassy officials in Beijing to gain access to Mr. Zhang, Mr. Cotler made it clear that he believes it is "reasonable" and "appropriate" for his government to simply demand Mr. Zhang's release. "I don't cease being a human rights lawyer because I'm a member of Parliament," he said.

Mr. Cotler, considered a star Liberal recruit when he won the federal byelection in Mount Royal last November, has clashed before with his government colleagues on issues of human rights. In October, after Canada supported a United Nations resolution condemning Israel for excessive force against Palestinians, Mr. Cotler denounced the resolution as "one-sided, misinformed and prejudicial to the cause of peace in the Middle East."

Yesterday, Mr. Cotler said he was contacted by Mr. Zhang's daughter, University of Ottawa student LingDi Zhang, to represent the family in their appeals to the Chinese government. Another daughter, JenWei Zhang, lives in Montreal.

LingDi Zhang said yesterday that increased media coverage of her father's plight appeared to relax the Chinese government's restrictions on her mother's freedom. For the first time in weeks, she was able to speak with mother on Monday by telephone.

Mr. Cotler said he has agreed to work without fee as the family's international legal counsel, and noted that the case represents "a personal and professional nexus" because Mr. Zhang was "a former colleague at McGill University."

Mr. Cotler is on leave from his position as a McGill law professor. Mr. Zhang, an arts professor at McGill in the early 1990s, returned to his native China in 1996 to teach sculpture at the Shangdong University of Arts.

After his byelection victory, Mr. Cotler said he might find it difficult to reconcile his views with the demands of party discipline in government. But he described his entry into politics "as a detour really, as a continuation, as an intensification, as an amplification of my involvement in the struggle for freedom, rights and human dignity."

He said yesterday he finally agreed to represent Mr. Zhang less than an hour before the press conference at which he condemned China and urged Canada toward a tougher stance against the Falun Gong crackdown. He added that he attempted to reach Mr. Manley before making his statements but was unable to connect with the Foreign Affairs minister.

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