President Jacques Chirac
55, Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré
F – 75008 Paris
France
Dear Mr President
We were deeply concerned after having learnt that several dozen Falun Gong practitioners from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Taiwan were arrested between 24 to 26 January on the streets of Paris for no valid reasons other than their being Falun Gong practitioners.
Falun Gong practitioners practise the principles of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance to be good people in the society, achieving inner peace and good health. Falun Gong is now practised in more than 60 countries around the world. It has won many awards in different countries including Canada, the United States and Australia for its benefits to practitioners and the community. It was only out of jealousy that the former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin ordered the banning of Falun Gong in China in July 1999, leading to the massive persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. This has also now been extended overseas to countries like France. There are over 800 documented cases of practitioners being tortured to death (reports out of China put the true number in the thousands) and some 100,000 practitioners are still being illegally detained in forced labour camps in China.
We, members and supporters of the Global Mission to Rescue Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners, are making every effort in our capacity to rescue Falun Gong practitioners, including family members of Australian citizens, being persecuted and tortured in China.
As one of the oldest democracies in the world, the French Constitution is based upon the following great democratic principles:
La devise de la République est “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité”.
Son principe est: gouvernement du peuple, par le peuple et pour le peuple.
It is regrettable that the Falun Gong practitioners were arrested for no other reason than being practitioners. It is highly regrettable that although such actions may seem to bring France some economic benefits, this deeply damages France’s international reputation and image in the democratic world. It harms the French spirit. It is an affront to the great principles that many French people gave their lives to uphold in the World Wars.
We look forward to your government correcting the mistreatment of Falun Gong practitioners, investigating this incident and giving an objective evaluation of practitioners’ peaceful activities.
Yours sincerely
Global Mission to Rescue Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners Australian Branch
2 February 2004
