HONG KONG — The health of a Hong Kong-based Falun Gong practitioner, Sun Zhongwen, is deteriorating daily. Sun is currently imprisoned in China and is suffering from heart disease and high blood pressure. Members of his family have requested his release so that he can receive treatment in Hong Kong.

Sun Zhongwen often traveled between Hong Kong and Mainland China on business. In May 2002, he was detained by police, and last March he was sentenced to four years in jail for possessing and mailing materials about the treatment of Falun Gong in China. Sun reportedly was healthy when he was arrested but his health has rapidly deteriorated under grueling prison conditions. He is not permitted to perform the Falun Gong mediations and exercises and has been denied medical treatment.

Sun Zhongwen’s elderly mother Zheng Xiulan spoke tearfully to a reporter about her son, “His blood pressure is 180 over 130 and his once-cured heart disease often returns. His heart isn’t well. He often has difficulty breathing. He will squat down and won’t be able to get up again, and ends up fainting.”

In a letter he wrote to his wife Wang Yan, Sun said, “I often feel dizzy, and my right hand is weak, as though I’ve been drinking too much alcohol. Sometimes my chest feels stuffy, I feel disoriented and uncomfortable, and my blood pressure is high. My heart disease came back a couple of days ago. My chest is extremely uncomfortable. Both of my hands are numb and shaking. I had to lie down in the corner of the outdoor gym to regain my strength.”

Because of the harsh conditions and lack of medical treatment in prison, Sun Zhongwen asked his wife to describe his symptoms to a doctor, find out what medicine he could be taking, and bring it to him.

Wang told the reporter in a telephone interview that she has had to take over the business and care for the family now that Sun Zhongwen is in prison. She also said that she has not been able to visit him.

Wang and her mother-in-law recently wrote to the Hong Kong immigration department for external residents to ask for assistance, so that Sun can return to Hong Kong for treatment.

In early November, Falun Gong practitioners, representatives of the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) and family members of Falun Gong practitioners appealed to officials in Hong Kong for the release of Sun and others imprisoned in China.

Lu Jie, who was among those appealing to Hong Kong officials remarked, “Due to the pressure from Jiang Zemin and the central government, Tung Chi-hwa and the Hong Kong government have avoided their responsibility. This is not right. They should face their responsibilities and help rescue these Hong Kong citizens.”

The group says there are currently four Falun Gong practitioners from Hong Kong who have been jailed because they refuse to give up their belief in the guiding principles of the meditation practice -- truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. They include Sun Zhongwen, Zhang Liangcang, Fu Xueying and Zhu Keming.

Zhu and a Falun Gong practitioner from Beijing, Wang Jie, filed a lawsuit against former president Jiang Zemin, current vice president Zeng Qinghong, and Luo Gan, who Jiang designated to oversee the administration of the ban on Falun Gong.

After filing the lawsuit, both Wang and Zhu were secretly arrested, and it was later reported that Zhu had been sentenced to five years in prison. Although there is one year left until Zhu’s release, he has been isolated from the outside world for four years. The government has forbidden his family to see or communicate with him and no one knows his current situation.

At least five family members of Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioners have been jailed in labor camps in Mainland China and sentenced for continuing to practice Falun Gong.