Dear Public Representative,
March 8th has been nominated as International Women’s Day each year. It is a day to celebrate and commemorate the struggle of women to be recognised and to have equal rights. It is named International Women’s Day because it is a day when women all over the globe can celebrate their rights and peace.
However, everyone knows that this is not the case. Women in parts of Asia and in the third world have very little rights and some have no rights at all. These human rights are taken for granted by most of us here in Ireland and in Europe. We are lucky enough to belong to a country that has a democratic system. I would like to raise your awareness of the situation of Chinese Women who are Falun Dafa Practitioners. As you are already aware China has a totalitarian government system.
One of the most basic human rights is to be able to choose our own belief system or religion [please note, Falun Gong is not a religion. For more information on the nature of Falun Gong, please click here]. Falun Dafa is an ancient Chinese cultivation way. Prior to 1992, it was a secret only for a selected few. In 1992, Li Hongzhi brought the practise to the public in China. Falun Dafa cultivates the body, mind and spirit. It is based on the principles of “Zhen, Shan, Ren,”-
“Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance”.
It is important to point out that the Chinese government’s persecution of Falun Dafa is no deviation from its 50 years of continuous persecution of intellectuals, labour activists, dissidents, Christians, Buddhists, and other nonconformists. Various studies by western scholars have indicated that over eighty million lives have perished because of the non-stop persecution under the Chinese communist rule.
The persecution of Falun Dafa is still going on in China. However the peaceful and persistent insistence on their basic rights by Falun Dafa practitioners is already transcending the historic plight of Chinese human rights. Their approach is peaceful, apolitical, and noble. Their suffering is helping more and more people wake up to the Chinese governments heinous crimes against humanity.
Many Falun Dafa practitioners have risked all to publicise the violations they or fellow practitioners have suffered. Their reports must not be taken lightly, lest the values of hope, courage, and the most fundamental human rights be forsaken.
In sending you this letter, I now ask you to be a voice for those who have none, and to ask you to do all within your power to challenge the injustice and cruelty.
Because this is about International Women’s Day, I will only mention the crimes against, and suffering of, the women practitioners, although men and children are suffering the same persecution.
Chinese laws and codes explicitly prohibit the jailing of pregnant women. However, with the instructions from the central government that “No measure is too excessive when dealing with Falun Dafa,” the Chinese police not only regularly jail pregnant practitioners, but also use their pregnancy to force them to choose between their unborn children and their practise of Falun Dafa.
Below are some cases of forced abortions. There are many more cases that have been confirmed and many more unconfirmed cases. With the information blockage by the Chinese government, we fear that the actual degree of atrocity is much greater.
1. Zhang Hanyun 33 resident of Hanzhong City Shanxi Province Pregnancy full term
Ordered to a “re-education class”—brainwashing. Ms Zhang hid to avoid the persecution. The authorities closed down her father and brother’s business. They also handcuffed Ms Zhang’s husband to the Jialing River Bridge of Hanzhong City to humiliate him. When they found Ms Zhang they took her to the “re-education class”, and then to the hospital where they used the dilation-and-extraction procedure to extract her full term baby.
2. Liu Qiuhong 39 employee of Zhongce Pharmacy Company resident of Yantai City Shandong Province Pregnancy – more than eight months
Arrested at her home for practising Falun Dafa. The police tied her down and forcefully induced an early labour. The baby was born alive and healthy and was crying when the police forced it from her womb. The authorities did not even allow Ms Liu any time to recover. They immediately sent her to a “Re-education Centre” for one month, and then sentenced her to a forced labour camp. No one knows what became of her child.
3. Wang Shaona resident of Shekou District Shenzhen City Guangdong Province. Pregnancy 6 months
On February 15 2000, Ms Wang Shaona and her husband went to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop the persecution of Falun Dafa. The couple was arrested and detained in the Shekou Detention Centre. Ms Wang was six months pregnant at the time. To “legally” detain Ms Wang, the police subjected her to a forced abortion.
On June 30, 2000, policemen from the Shuiwan Police Station arrested Ms Wang and her husband again at their home. They were detained in the Nanshan District Detention Centre. When the police found that she was pregnant, they shackled her and took her to a hospital for a second forced abortion. Later, Ms Wang was sent to the Nanshan District Detention Centre, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province.
There are many more cases of torture and unbelievable depravity on these defenceless Chinese women practitioners. Sexual violations and torture with electric batons, “Re-education”, using unknown drug/s, sleep deprivation, boiling water, rape, force-feeding, and beating. Male criminals are encouraged to take part when a female practitioner is thrown into a cell with several male inmates. The list is endless.
One of the most devastating discoveries for me, was to find out that these Chinese women practitioners are being held in forced labour camps and making items that are being sold here in Ireland and in the UK. These items are being made for large well known companies.
At present in the UK there is a young Chinese mother to be (six weeks pregnant) being held near Gatwick Airport to be deported back to China. Her name is Lili Lin. She applied for Asylum two years ago. She gave her address to the Home Office and did all that was asked of her. After some time, she met and married a young Chinese man. Both are Falun Dafa practitioners. When she married she gave her change of address to the Home Office and kept up the procedure. However, somewhere along the way, the Home Office misplaced her change of address and when her application for asylum was turned down, they sent it to the old address. As she was not aware of this, she did not have the advantage of appealing the decision. There has been a huge appeal from Falun Dafa practitioners and human rights groups from all over the world. They know that if she is sent back to China, she could be arrested, tortured and possibly never seen again. Also, the fate of her unborn child is in serious danger.
I am calling on you to give your voice to the powers that be in the UK and put forward a case for clemency to save this young practitioner’s life and that of her unborn child. All these female Chinese Falun Dafa practitioners are asking for, is to be allowed to live a normal life, to work and bring up their families and to be allowed to practise and follow their faith in Falun Dafa.
Yours sincerely,
Maria Hendrick
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All information in this letter and the cases documented in this letter can be verified by The Falun Dafa Report – Published by Golden Lotus Press – March 2002.
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