Mercury News

Fri, Feb. 21, 2003

(Clearwisdom.net) On a noisy Menlo Park sidewalk Thursday, Yeong-ching Foo choked back tears and pleaded for help for her fiance who was recently imprisoned in China.

Charles Li, a Menlo Park businessman and U.S. citizen, was arrested Jan. 22 upon arriving at Guangzhou Airport in southern China. [...]

Li is a follower of the spiritual practice Falun Gong. His fellow practitioners believe he was arrested because of his activities supporting the group, which is banned in China.

Human rights groups have documented mass detention and torture of followers of Falun Gong, which China perceives as a threat to its authority.

Almost a dozen Falun Gong practitioners gathered Thursday along El Camino Real to draw attention to Li's plight and to kick off a traveling campaign to drum up support. Foo and other Falun Gong practitioners plan to visit public officials and media throughout the state, then head across the country.

"Please help rescue Charles from darkness and danger," said Foo, 29, a computer consultant who lives in Santa Clara.

Foo said Li had traveled to China to purchase supplies for his Menlo Park Web-based herbal remedy business, and also to visit his parents for Chinese New Year. He had visited China previously in October, and had been detained briefly for being on the street without an identification card, she said.

But the Chinese government maintains that Li and other Falun Gong practitioners unsuccessfully tried to insert footage of their group into local television broadcasting on Oct. 22.

[...]

Falun Gong supporters say [...] China's accusation is groundless, and that Li does not even possess radio or television technical skills.

Last year, several Chinese television broadcasts were interrupted with unauthorized programming by Falun Gong. Followers apparently [tapped] into satellite and regional cable systems, inserting films protesting the Chinese government's persecution of Falun Gong.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/5230479.htm