On March 16 the United States Congress overwhelmingly passed Resolution 605, a declaration and request to the Beijing government to immediately stop their persecution of Falun Gong. Congressional representatives voted in favor of the bill with a result of 412 to 1 (and 15 abstentions).
Despite this step by the American government, thousands of people in China are routinely kidnapped in their own homes, picked up off the street or escorted from work on their way to a detention center. Simply for practicing the Falun Gong style of meditation. Unfortunately this results in many broken families.
On March 25 in front of the Los Angeles Chinese consulate, some of the family members affected by these incidents spoke out in attempt to speak directly to the consulate, as well as to raise awareness for the mainstream media.
Mr. Chang, an Assistant Director of the Center for Esthetic Dentistry at UCLA, said that his mother, Yao-Hua Li, 63, a native Hong Kong resident, and younger sister Yi-Bo Zhang, 30, a financial manager of Siemens Shanghai Branch, have been illegally detained in Shanghai, China since June 4, 2009 (a “sensitive” day in China due to the Tiananmen Student Massacre of 1989). Their crime? Practicing Falun Gong. Unfortunately their trial, which was held on March 18, went nowhere and they are still detained.
Chang said that his mother was very vocal about the health benefits she received from the practice, saying to those she met that it helped bring relief to her congenital spinal problems. Chang’s sister is said to have marveled at the results and then also began to practice, with similar results. They were both vocal about their belief in the practice, and on June 4 the Tian Lin police officers forcibly entered their home and abducted them both.
He stated, “Under the CCP’s persecution, my mother’s health is very weak. She fell down after standing in court for only 2-3 minutes. The lawyers repeated the bail request because of health [concerns], but China’s judicial institutions were ignored.”
Lawyer jailed for defending Falun Gong practitioner
Another individual, Tian Lu from Dalian, China called for the rescue of her husband, Cong Rixu, and their lawyer, Yong Hang Wang. She said: “January 13, 2009, my husband and I posted a “Falun Dafa is Good” banner on the city wall and three plainclothes police officers kidnapped us to the Dalian Ganjingzi Branch Criminal Investigation Brigade for a quick trial. That night, I was illegally detained in the Dalian City Detention Center. After 31 days sentence in jail I was finally acquitted.” She continued, “My husband was illegally sentenced to three years in jail by the Dalian Court. What is more, our defense lawyer pleaded not guilty and has been illegally sentenced to seven years.”
She recalls that at the detention center she noticed five more people had been illegally brought to trial. While in prison, the police slapped her, threatened her, and strongly ordered her to become a spy for the Chinese government. She sternly rejected and was sent to the infamous “Masanjia” re-education facility. Mrs. Tian said that they tried to force her to sign a statement declaring she would stop practicing Falun Gong, but they did not succeed. She was released because of hunger strikes, with a body weight loss of approximately 20 pounds a month.
Through help from friends and relatives, Mrs. Tian escaped from mainland China into Singapore, and from there she moved to the United States. She pleaded the audience for help in the release of her husband Cong Rixu and their lawyer Yong Hang Wang.
