Mr. Tang Xianhui, 42, a former democracy activist and current Falun Gong practitioner
of six years, has been blacklisted in China for his democratic activities several
years ago and is currently facing severe persecution for his practice of Falun
Gong if he is deported back to China.
Mr. Tang Xianhui, 42 fled China
in 1996, leaving behind his wife and six-year-old son, after his involvement with
the student democracy movement brought him under threat from the authorities.
He has not seen his family since.
After his application for a protection
visa in Australia was refused, he stayed on illegally as his wife had told him
police were searching for him in China. He says he was reluctant to stay in Australia
illegally, but his wife had begged him not to return.
He began practicing
Falun Gong early in 1999, before it was outlawed only months later by then Chinese
leader Jiang Zemin.
“In June 1999 I was very sick. I read a paper
which said that Falun Gong can help to improve your health. That’s why I started
to practice. Only a few months later, in July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) started to persecute Falun Gong.”
Mr. Tang has been refused
refugee status by the Department of Immigration (DIMIA) and as a last resort,
he has appealed to Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone to intervene and grant
him refugee status.
The Department of Immigration has refused to take
into account Mr. Tang’s practice of Falun Gong in his refugee application.
According
to the German edition of The Epoch Times, Falun Gong practitioner Jiang Renzheng
was sentenced to three years in a forced labor camp a month after the German government
deported him and his family back to China in March this year.
This is
a common fate for Falun Gong practitioners in China, with hundreds of thousands
of adherents sent to labour camps without trial since the practice was outlawed
in July 1999.
Evidence as reported to the United Nations.
Both
the Refugee Review Tribunal and the DIMIA have received ample evidence that demonstrates
that anyone who practices Falun Gong is at risk of being persecuted in China.
Last month, Mr Tang has made a last-ditch appeal directly to Immigration
Minister Amanda Vanstone in Canberra, having bicycled 600 km from Melbourne.
“I
want to tell the people about the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong in
China,” said Mr. Tang. “That’s why I’m doing this trip.”
In
the end, Mr. Tang was still placed detention on 30/05/05 in Melbourne.
Falun
Gong is a meditation practice which combines slow movements with adherence to
the principles of truth, compassion and tolerance.
Posting date: 2/Jun/2005
Original
article date: 1/Jun/2005
Category: Media Report
