The Hon Alexander Downer
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Parliament house
CANBERRA NSW 2600
Dear Minister
I write on behalf of Mr Jonathon Solomon, a local colleague of Falun Dafa members in our area, seeking an update on a very disturbing incident in Republic of South Africa involving Australian citizens who are also Falun Dafa practitioners.
I am advised the incident occurred as follows; Falun Dafa representative and Australian citizen David Liang travelled to the Republic of South Africa in June 2004 with 8 other Australian citizens with the intention of peacefully presenting to the Vice President of China a law-suit concerning the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners during his visit to the RSA.
Mr Liang’s group left the airport at 6.30am for a 2 hour drive to Pretoria in 2 cars. While driving, a car pulled up alongside and its occupants pulled out an AK47 weapon and started firing at Mr Liang’s party. David Liang was driving and managed to stop the car, but was shot in both feet, critically injured.
The assailant’s car also stopped. No robbing took place, making the incident very different to a general assault of the sort that sadly occurs in the RSA. The assailant just stopped and looked, in a manner designed to intimidate, and then drove off. The group was then able to drive to a hospital and to seek treatment for David Liang. The RSA government was apparently briefed on the purpose of the visit and the assault is being treated as attempted murder, with no arrests to date that Mr Solomon is aware of.
The Australian Embassy and DFAT was also involved and I understand are waiting to hear from RSA authorities on the progress of their investigations. The Falun Dafa group was obviously not able to complete their presentation.
I write to request your assistance to keep Mr Solomon and his colleagues up to date on any information that is forthcoming on this issue. I would be grateful for any information you can provide. Mr Solomon has spoken to Alby Schultz about the details of this incident.
Yours sincerely
PETA SEATON, MP
Member for Southern Highlands
