January 24, 2002

Joel Chipkar has faith that only good will come of his mother's trip to China to draw attention to the persecution of her fellow followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement there.

Still, the 33-year-old Toronto real-estate broker admits he's worried about Connie Chipkar. The 61-year-old Mississauga retiree entered Beijing's Tiananmen Square yesterday wearing a sash proclaiming "Falun Gong" and "SOS" and raised her arms in a Falun Gong posture while singing a spiritual song, Chipkar said. That was when police stepped in and drove her away in a van. She was scheduled for a hearing today, he said.

"In the last 20 days over 30 people have been confirmed dead in police custody, just because they practice exercises, just because they read a teaching that advocates truthfulness compassion and tolerance," Joel Chipkar, who witnessed 36 Falun Gong practitioners arrested in the square last November, told a Toronto news conference yesterday.

He and fellow followers of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, are concerned that Beijing may take a scapegoat of his mother.

Amnesty International is calling on Beijing to end arbitrary detentions, unfair trials and other human rights violations against [Falun Gong]

Connie Chipkar started practicing in 1998 after a long depression sparked by the death of another son to brain cancer, her son said.

"I saw an amazing transformation in her," he said, adding that she became "a very peaceful person."

Raynald Doiron of the foreign affairs department in Ottawa confirmed that Chipkar had been detained and said the Canadian government has been seeking information about her. The Chinese embassy in Ottawa did not return calls yesterday, but a source said Chipkar is expected to be expelled from China today.