Japan: Osaka Dafa Practitioners Appeal in Front of the Chinese Consulate, Demanding the Immediate Release of Yoko Kaneko

Prior to the upcoming visit of Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi to China, in the past few days, Falun Gong practitioners in Japan and many Japanese people have written letters to the minister to ask her to secure the release of Yoko Kaneko. In order to convey the request to the Chinese government, Osaka Falun Gong practitioners went to the Chinese Consulate on the evening of April 2, 2003, demanding the Chinese government to immediately release Yoko Kaneko, the wife of Japanese citizen.

Falun Gong practitioner Yoko Kaneko was illegally arrested last May when she clarified the truth about Falun Gong to passersby in Beijing. She was then sentenced to one and a half years of forced labour. During the detention, she was subjected to beatings and other types of mistreatment. Recently the number of Falun Gong practitioners who were tortured to death while being detained in China's forced labour camps has been steadily increasing. Under such severe circumstances, in order to prevent the same thing from happening to Yoko Kaneko, Japan's Falun Gong practitioners are trying their best to rescue Yoko Kaneko.