Speech at the joint press conference of the International Human Rights Day
Outside of the Irish Parliament
Dublin
10 December 2002

Fifty-four years ago today, the United Nations proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in which the freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and religious belief were considered the fundamental rights of a human being.

Three years ago, my sister Dai Xialing went to Beijing to express her opinion on the ban of Falun Dafa by the Chinese authorities. However, she was arrested. With her were my other sister Dai Qiuxia, my brother Dai Xuejun and many friends from my hometown. They were soon sent back to my hometown and detained in the police station.

My two sisters and my brother were soon fired by their workplaces because they refused to sign the documents to renounce Falun Dafa. They were constantly detained and threatened by the police. Qiuxia's husband divorced her in fear of being affected by the persecution. My sister Qiuxia was living with her young daughter with no income, no social welfare but she still did a lot work to spread flyers to clarify the truth to the people locally.

I went back to China to visit my family and also to appeal for Falun Dafa. I met my sister Xialing in the temporary detention center inside her old workplace, even though she was already fired from there. You could imagine how we felt in such circumstances -- one sister going thousands of miles to see another sister in a detention center. But we were both very determined, as we believed that we were doing the most righteous thing in the world, we were defending the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance."

I left my hometown at the end of December 1999 and went to Beijing to appeal. I was arrested on Tiananmen Square on the first day of the new Millennium, 1 Jan 2000. I was detained for 4 days before I was deported back to Ireland. That was my last time seeing my family and my country.

My sister Xialing together with other Falun Dafa practitioners devoted themselves to spreading the truth, and finally in the end of Dec 2000, she had to escape from my hometown because the police was searching for her and wanting to send her to the labor camp. She jumped from the third floor and injured her back. Luckily enough, a neighbor helped her to get away, and she then began a period of 8 months in exile. She was finally sent to the labour camp where my other sister Qiuxia had been since the end of Dec 2000. This happened in August 2001.

I have never been able to make direct contact with either of my sisters inside the labour camp. I was told that both of them were suffering from the forceful brainwashing. Qiuxia was released in September 2002, but Xialing is being detained there.

My mother was 73 when she passed away in October 2001, a few days after her birthday. We lost our father in September 1998. My mother had to go through so much pain -- seeing her children arrested, beaten, expelled, divorced and sent to labour camps. My mother was a traditional Chinese lady, and her husband and her children were the core and all of her life. It was simply too much for her to endure. She passed away with much pain in her heart. She was denied the right to see her two daughters in labor camp, and the other daughter wasn't allowed to go back to her homeland to comfort her.

Xialing is only one of the millions of Falun Dafa practitioners who have been subjected to the terrible persecution in China. My family's tragedy is only a tiny portion of the massive persecution against the peaceful practice of Falun Dafa and the practitioners.

There is an ancient Chinese saying: One righteousness subdues a hundred evils. Your righteousness, justice, and compassion are needed for my sister, my family, this world and yourself.

Thank you.

Dai Dongxue

Source: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200212/8792.html

Category: Rallies & Protests