(Clearwisdom.net)

August 8, 2002

Minister For Foreign Affairs Office,

Dear Brian Cowen, T.D.

I am writing on behalf of Irish Falun Dafa practitioners to make you aware of some issues that we are concerned about. Recently there has been a trial of Falun Dafa practitioners in Hong Kong where the practitioners are accused of obstructing a path, obstructing police and even assaulting police. In reality the practitioners held a peaceful appeal outside the China Liaison office in Hong Kong, a highly sensitive location. They quietly meditated and were within their rights and protected to do so under Hong Kong law, which protects freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom of demonstration.

When Hong Kong was handed back to China, the Chinese Government promised that the Hong Kong region would remain autonomous for fifty years and that people there would enjoy the rights they had under British rule. The independence and autonomy is being severely tested even on Irish soil. Zhao Ming, a Trinity student who was rescued by the Irish Government and people from a labor camp, was asked to give evidence in the trial detailing the vicious torture he had suffered in the labor camp. When he went to the Chinese embassy to get the visa for Hong Kong, they immediately recognized him and would not even issue him an application form after communicating with Beijing. During the trial, as reported by the Associated Press, the Judge has repeatedly showed signs of bias by insulting the defendants' barrister. The fact that two senior counsel were chosen to represent the prosecution's case, the main argument of which is obstruction of a footpath, is unusual to say the least. The manner in which the Hong Kong police arrested the practitioners using heavy force, even using strangle holds on a 60-year-old woman (see enclosed pictures), was outrageous. Hong Kong does not have a history of abusing human rights; the question begs to be asked where the pressure is coming from to provoke this behavior?

The Falun Dafa practitioners in Ireland are very concerned about these issues. The Irish Foreign Affairs office is our representative on the international level, so we are expressing our concerns to you in the hope that you will know best how to make them known to the Hong Kong authorities.

[a representative of the Falun Dafa Association of Ireland]

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