Australian Mother and Daughter – Safe but Shocked
Monday, 3 February 2003 (Sydney Falun Dafa Information Centre) – Nancy Chen and her six-year-old daughter will arrive in Sydney on 3rd February 2003. On a recent trip to China visiting relatives and friends, Nancy was detained in China for over week without any explanation, “I am shocked that the any citizen can be taken from the streets in China without any explanation.”
On the 20th January, Nancy’s mother received a call from her daughter saying: “I have been kidnapped near the American Consulate in Chengdu. They searched and took all my files including passport. Please ring my husband and ask the Australian government to save me.” The line was cut off immediately.
Nancy and her family as well as their Sydney fellow Falun Gong practitioners have expressed their heartfelt thanks to the Australian Consular officials who tried to protect her legal rights and uphold justice.
Media Event
When: 11:00am – 12:00noon,
Monday, 3 February 2003
Where: Sydney Chinese Consulate, 539 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills
What: Nancy Chen to talk for the first time in Australia about her
eight days of unexpected ordeal in China. (Personal interviews are welcome).
Latest International news
Recently, Dr. Charles Li American citizen, a Medical Doctor was detained at Guangzhou Airport shortly after landing in China, he faces false charges that could mean up to 15 years in prison.
This is an alarming escalation to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. We have seen foreign nationals held and face the potential of being slapped with trumped up charges simply because they practise Falun Gong. It seems no one from any of country is safe should they choose to travel to China. What is a person to do if they practise Falun Gong, and they need to travel to China to do business or attend a conference or are competing in the 2008 Olympics?
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Background: Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal principle of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.” Since its introduction in 1992, it quickly spread by word of mouth throughout China, and is now practised in over 50 countries. Falun Dafa is not a religion. It is non political and free to practise.
With government estimates of as many as 100 million practising Falun Gong, China’s President Jiang Zemin outlawed the peaceful practice in July 1999. 557 practitioners have been verified as having been tortured to death.
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For more information, please contact:
Tony Dai: 0416 234 095 Thomas Dobson: 0414 538 115
Web sites: www.falunau.org www.faluninfo.net
Email: news@falunau.org
Press Statement
3 February 2003
Firstly, we would like to express our appreciation to the Australian government for their prompt actions in seeking justice for our local Falun Gong practitioner Ms Nancy Chen, who found herself in a dangerous situation in China. Through the actions of DFAT and the Beijing Australian Embassy, Ms Chen’s release from illegal detention was procured.
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the principle of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.” It is not a religion. It is non political and all activities are free.
Since July 1999, Chinese leader Jiang has carried out a precise and protracted campaign of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners, which has recently escalated to include instances of persecution of foreign citizens and non-residents in China as well as interference in other countries. Nancy Chen’s incident is one of the best testimonies to illustrate the lengths that Jiang will go to distract the people of the world from the greed and corruption within the communist regime.
On 31st January 2002, 71 year-old Mr. Chan, a resident of Hong Kong, was secretly sentenced to 7 years in prison in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) simply for unfolding a banner with the words “Truth, Compassion and Forbearance” during a visit of Jiang. His family was also warned against contacting Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong.
On 22nd January 2003, an American Medical Doctor, Mr Charles Lee, was detained at Guangzhou Airport shortly after landing in China; he faces dubious charges that could mean up to 15 years in prison.
This is an alarming escalation of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. We have seen foreign nationals being held and facing the potential of being slapped with trumped up charges simply because they practise Falun Gong, which is freely practised in over 60 countries around the world…it seems no one from any of these countries is safe should they choose to travel to China. What is a person to do if they practice Falun Gong and they need to travel to China to do business, or attend a conference, or are competing in the 2008 Olympics? Jiang’s regime has done nothing less than target a segment of the world community for persecution.
If an innocent foreign national can be casually taken away by the Chinese authorities, how about those Chinese Falun Gong practitioners who are suffering severe torture right now? 557 practitioners have been verified as having been tortured to death. More than 100,000 practitioners have been illegally sent labour camps without trial, while more than 500 have been committed to mental hospitals, and they have no means to speak out.
On 20th of January 2003, the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong was established. Its mission is to investigate the criminal conduct of all institutions, organisations, and individuals involved in the persecution of Falun Gong; to bring such investigation to full closure under any circumstances; to exercise fundamental principles of humanity; and to restore and uphold justice in human society.
We will assist the organisation to seek justice for Nancy Chen, to find out who is responsible for her kidnapping, as well as for many more Falun Gong practitioners who are inhumanly treated by the Jiang regime, the only leadership in the world guilty of persecuting Falun Gong.
Thank you, our media and the Australian people, for coming here to listen to our story which relates to the people of the world the injustices and atrocities being committed by the Jiang regime.
