Senator David Norris

My name is David Norris. I'm a member of the upper house of the Irish Parliament and I'm standing here today outside the Irish Parliament and protesting the treatment of Falun Gong and Falun Dafa practitioners within China and the infringement of their human rights. I'm here in the company of Zhao Ming and Dai Dongxue, who have managed to get here, but the Chinese authorities have still not renewed the passport of Miss Dai Dongxue. Which means that effectively, for believing in the principles of Truthfulness Compassion and Tolerance, her own government has turned her into a stateless person. Zhao Ming, I understand, is continuing heroically to use all the international human rights apparatus, the courts, the United States courts and the international courts to try and exercise his rights as a human being and as a citizen of China. There are people left behind, both these courageous people have refused to forget the suffering of their family and friends within China.

One of the other things that we are particularly concerned about here today is the program of the Chinese government to introduce new legislation within Hong Kong which will restrict human rights and which will allow the Chinese authorities to proscribe practitioners of Falun Gong. Simply because they have been similarly proscribed in China this will have the effect of turning them into outlawed organizations branded as terrorists for what? For Truthfulness Compassion and Tolerance. And I would say that any government that is afraid of Truthfulness Compassion and Tolerance breaking out among its citizens has to ask itself a lot of questions about why it feels it needs to control its citizens in this way, so I'm happy to wish them well and I look forward to hearing their submission when they come before the human rights subcommittee of the joint committee of parliament on foreign affairs and human rights.

Question: What will this protest achieve for these Chinese people?

First of all on a moral basis it demonstrates that these people are not forgotten and these courageous people like Zhao Ming and Dai Dongxue have not forgotten their own people. They have escaped they have found security and a home here. They have not forgotten and will not forget their relatives and their friends and all the other people in Falun Gong. Huge numbers have been tortured, imprisoned and even so brutally beaten that they died in hospitals.

Rosemary Warner, representative of the Dublin Central Group of Amnesty International

Hello, my name is Rosemary Warner. I'm a representative for Amnesty International in Ireland and we're very concerned about the case of the two students who have been refused permission to come back to their studies in Ireland. We're concerned both for them and what's been happening to them and from the point of view of Ireland itself in that they were issued with visas and were given permission to return to Ireland and then the Chinese government stopped them - this is obviously of concern to us here in Ireland. We're extremely worried about one of them, who is currently in detention, as we understand, and could be suffering from same things that happened to Zhao Ming and we all know that he was tortured badly. The other student is confined to her home as we understand it. There doesn't seem, from the Irish point of view, any reason at all for this to happen. Anyone who knows anything about Falun Gong knows that there is absolutely no reason for the clampdown the Chinese government has instituted against them.

I also notice with extreme concern that the same process is happening in Hong Kong at present, that is Falun Gong and the practice of Falun Gong is perfectly legal in Hong Kong, and the Chinese Government is at present in the process of putting pressure on the Hong Kong authorities to pass a new law under what's called Article 23 of the Basic Law, which is equivalent to their constitution. The purpose of this law is that they will be able to ban organizations like Falun Gong and also political organizations and political dissidents in Hong Kong, even though they haven't been banned in Hong Kong up to now. This is supposedly because they are subversives. We are extremely worried that what is happening in China is going to be replicated in Hong Kong. The number of people who are in Chinese jails for practicing Falun Gong is going up all the time -- the number who has been tortured is going up all the time, the number who has died is going up all the time.

Gerald O'Conner, spokesperson of the Irish Falun Dafa Association

The Irish Government take this persecution of human rights seriously; they got Zhao Ming released. Practitioners and the Friends of Zhao Ming made the Irish people aware of what was happening, and the Irish government successfully represented them and got Zhao Ming released.

The reason we are here today is that they are not aware of exactly how bad the persecution is and how good the practice is, and how innocent the people who are being persecuted are. We're here today to further deepen their understanding of what's happening and how bad it is.

Falun Gong is an ancient Chinese spiritual practice. When an individual comes to practice it they leave behind desires and other bad things and improve themselves with Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. These people become better workers, better students, better members of society, most importantly they become better people, with the exercise they become more healthy. Everything is free. We really just become better people.

This persecution in China happened because of one or two people who were jealous of Falun Gong. It was so popular and it charged nothing, everything was free. This persecution has gone to the worst extremes possible. Good people, because they don't hit back are being persecuted in the most horrible fashion. In free societies like Ireland we have to use our voice as much as possible to represent these people and get this persecution ended and get these people back to their studies.

Gerard P. Craughwell, assistant principal of Senior College Dun Laoghaire

Good afternoon to you, thank you for inviting me here. Yes Ms Yang came to senior college Dublin Dun Laoghaire in 1999 to study an accounting technicians program with the Senior College Dun Laoghaire. She was actually taking the institute of accountants in Ireland diploma course. Now she went home in 1999 and was arrested in December of 1999. I understand that she had her passport withdrawn from her following her arrest and subsequently went on hunger strike for the return of her passport. It's my understanding that in 2000 she had her passport returned and was provided with a visa to travel to Ireland to study. However, before she got a chance to travel to Ireland she was subsequently arrested again and had her passport withdrawn from her. Senior College Dun Laoghaire, my institution, we have no particular political opinion with respect to her detention or the Chinese government's approach to her studies. However, as a caring organization and as an educational institution we would like to see her return to Ireland to her fellow students to complete her course of studies and probably return to China and improve the livelihood of her family. That's where we would like to go.

Source:
http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200212/8793.html