(Clearwisdom.net, July 25, 2003) On July 20, 2003, Mr. Jim Moffat, the Secretary of the Edinburgh South Group of Amnesty International, Scotland, released a statement calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and outlining the cases of UK practitioners' persecuted friends and family members. This is the second statement released by this Amnesty International Group in the past month. The first statement can be found at http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/7/19/38268.html.

Members of Edinburgh South Group of Amnesty International have been very concerned to learn yet again of the appalling treatment Falun Gong practitioners have received at the hands of the Chinese authorities.

News has reached us in the past few days of the dreadful way in which practitioners have been illegally detained and tortured in China.

Details of four specific cases quoted to us are briefly outlined below.

1. Ms Baolian Zhu, 37, was detained for 8 months without trial for distributing Falun Gong leaflets and in August 2001, sentenced to four years in Beijing Women's Prison.

2. Ms Yongjie Zhu, 29, was arrested on November 4, 2002, and has been held in Daxing Women's Labor Camp in Beijing without trial for practicing and supporting Falun Gong.

3. Mr Xujun Zheng, 35, was sentenced to 2 years in Tuanhe Labor Camp in Beijing in March 2002, for distributing and displaying materials against the suppression of Falun Gong.

4. Mr He Jian, 27, was incarcerated in a labor camp in Wuhan, China, for one and a half years without trial and tortured many times for practicing Falun Gong. Arrested again on June 23, 2003 and later reported to be struggling for his life in a hospital guarded by police.

We call on the Chinese government to cease persecuting Falun Gong practitioner, release those illegally detained and allow the free movement of its citizens in and out of China.

Jim Moffat
Secretary, Edinburgh South Group, Amnesty International

Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200307/14002.html

Category: Voices of Support Worldwide