Over 40 Friends of Charles Li Write to President Bush Calling For Charles' Immediate Release

February 5, 2003

President George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Bush:

On January 22, 2003, the P.R.C. seized and illegally detained Charles Li, a U.S. citizen from California (a former Massachusetts resident) and a good friend of ours. We are writing to ask you to call for his immediate release. When Charles arrived in China, government agents illegally arrested him simply because he is a Falun Gong practitioner.

The Jiang Zemin regime has instituted a campaign of state terror against Falun Gong that is reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution. Under Jiang's covert policy to "Defame them politically, destroy them economically, and eliminate them physically," the regime is persecuting an estimated 100 million Falun Gong practitioners and their families, both in China as well as abroad. In the past three and a half years, more than 560 practitioners have been killed in detention centres and labour camps. We appreciate that the U.S. State Department has documented many of these cases of death and torture in its Annual Human Rights Report.

We are very concerned about Charles' safety. We sincerely hope that the U.S. Government will once again uphold justice and the fundamental principles of humanity by calling for Charles' immediate release from China. We feel that the efforts of the U.S. government can protect Charles' human rights and his very life.

Thank you for giving this matter your attention. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

(Signatures of over 40 friends of Charles Li)