Xueye Zhu is a Canadian citizen and a Civil Engineering Ph.D. student at Concordia University in Montreal. He has been practicing Falun Dafa since 1997. At the time of his appeal in Beijing, he was a landed immigrant of Canada and a Chinese citizen. He spoke about this experience at a Toronto news conference on August 10.

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I was detained, threatened and deported simply for going to the appeals office in Beijing.

I went to visit my family in China in December 1999. I felt very sad that the government was persecuting Falun Gong. At a time that many people in China had become demoralized and focused only on making money, Falun Gong had brought moral values and inner peace to millions of people. So I went to Beijing to appeal.

When I arrived at the appeals office, I was immediately detained in the appeals office by police. Later, I was thrown into a small basement room (8 square meters) with 4 other practitioners who also came to Beijing to appeal. Half of the room was flooded with water.

Ten days later, police came with my father and brothers-in-law from my hometown. That night was the worst suffering I had ever experienced in my life. Police told my family members to choose between losing their jobs and persuading me to give up Falun Gong.

If they were to lose their jobs for reasons related to Falun Gong, they would never be able to find another job. I was threatened with being sent to a labour camp if I did not give up Falun Gong.

Under the huge pressure, my family tried to persuade me for 10 hours to write a so-called "repentance statement," denouncing Falun Gong. As we talked, we all cried together.

I explained to them how good Falun Dafa is. The principle of Falun Dafa -- Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance -- is the most fundamental value for human beings. How can I give it up?

Then, I asked them if what I did was right. They said with tears: "We know you are right. But we have no choice."

I suspect my family was forced to write some kind of promise to the police on my behalf. I was deported from China two days later. Before I left, my father told me not to come back for three years. Police warned me that if anything happened, my family would be held responsible.