Saturday, August 10, 2002

On August 7, the Irish Falun Dafa Association (IFDA) held a press conference in front of the Chinese Embassy in Dublin to expose the political trial of Hong Kong practitioners by HK police.

IFDA's spokesman Gerald O'Connel made a statement on behalf of IFDA regarding the legal case currently being tried in Hong Kong in which the HK police falsely charged 16 Falun practitioners with blocking the street and attacking police.

He cited the defendants' solicitor's words, "These accused have rights that are enshrined in and thus protected by the Basic Law, which guarantees their right to assemble and express their views." Mr. O'Connor presented some pictures in which HK policemen and women were pressing and nipping practitioners' acupuncture points to cause pain to them while the others kept peaceful during the arrest. He said, "What is in trial in this case is actually Hong Kong people's freedom of speech and assembly," and called it a political trial.

Mr O'Connor condemned the behaviour of Jiang's regime as it extends its persecution of Falun Gong outside mainland China, and expressed worry about whether Hong Kong can keep its original prosperity and stability.

Finally, he called on the international community to "Help to stop this political trial, in which law was trampled by political power, and to support the Hong Kong people's legal rights and freedom of belief, speech and assembly."

Also speaking at the press conference was Zhao Ming, the Trinity College student who was put in a labour camp in China for nearly 2 years for practising Falun Gong. Ming was requested by the defendants' solicitor Mr. John Clancey to give evidence in court about what he experienced in the labour camp. But Ming failed to make the trip because the Chinese Embassy in Dublin did not accept his application for a Hong Kong visa. The visa officer of the Embassy said he would report Ming's intention to apply for a HK visa to Beijing see if the Chinese government would agree. Ming said this was proof that HK's 50 years' "One Country, Two System" guarantee had not been honoured.

Ming noted that the rallies held on his behalf by Trinity students were legal and effective examples of peaceful protests, just like those of the Hong Kong practitioners.

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