February 16, 2003

A University of Pittsburgh researcher says his wife is being held in a prison in China for being a [practitioner] of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement.

Cailu Xu, a 40-year-old engineer who fled his native country after his wife's arrest in November 2001, is hoping American authorities will help reunite them.

Xu and his wife, Xiaomei Jia, 41, began practicing Falun Gong in Beijing in 1996.

[...]

Xu said he was detained for about 30 hours in a police station in June 2000 for meditating and exercising outside the couple's apartment building.

Jia was detained on several occasions. She left home in October 2001 and a month later, Chinese authorities arrested her while she was passing out fliers about Falun Gong, Xu said.

Jia has since been held in a detention center. Xu, who said he lived in fear after his wife of 14 years was jailed, said he left China in July to attend an academic conference in Boston and hasn't gone back.

"In China, I can do nothing," Xu said.

Their 13-year-old son is living with an aunt in Beijing, but Xu hopes that lawmakers and other government officials can help him persuade Chinese authorities to release his wife so he can reunite his family.


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