Letter to Thailand Authorities from European Friends of Falun Gong

This letter was sent to Thailand's official representatives in the UK, as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok.

We wish to express our deep concern at the detention on April 29th by immigration and police officers of Mrs Pirjo Svensson, a Swedish National and Falun Gong practitioner, who was arrested and detained along with her husband and another practitioner in a hotel room in Bangkok.

Mrs Svensson has so far received no explanation of which law she has broken. Although Falun Gong is not illegal in Thailand, as it is in China, we believe it is her practice of Falun Gong which is the chief reason for her arrest, as the Thai government has been given a blacklist of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese embassy there, a list which includes the name of Mrs Svensson.

We appeal to you to help bring about the release of Mrs Svensson immediately in the name of ‘Truth, Compassion and Forbearance’, the three principles followed by all Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong practitioners have no political motives for wanting to gain the freedom of practitioners in China, they simply want them to be able to practise Falun Gong freely and in accordance with the Chinese constitution. The Thai government must not allow China to exert political influence on it – it must act independently and must surely see that the detention of Mrs Svensson goes against her human right to freedom of belief and expression.

We therefore appeal to you in the strongest terms to help release Mrs Svensson immediately in the name of humanity.

Yours sincerely,

European Friends of Falun Gong