Swedish Newspaper: "Swedish Practitioner in Thailand to Appeal Against Deportation Threat"

Swedish Newspaper Norran Västerbotten & Expressen and Sweden’s Channel 4 TV station reported on May 2 2003 that Swedish Falun Gong practitioner Pirjo Svensson has decided to appeal against the Thai government’s decision to deport her.

The 44-year-old Swedish woman, who is at the moment imprisoned by the Thai authorities, will consult a lawyer to file an appeal against the deportation order made by the Immigration Bureau. She was arrested at her husband’s house in Bangkok on April 29. Despite persistent enquiries from the Swedish Embassy, Government officials still refuse to give any reasons for her arrest and detention. Mrs Svensson has a permit to live in Thailand with her husband who works there. According to information released by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, her Thailand visa has been groundlessly revoked.

Mrs. Svensson believes that her detention is because she is a practitioner of Falun Gong, which is of course legal in Thailand and all countries in the world except China. Her friend in Sweden says that the arrest of Mrs. Svensson by the Thai government is a clear indication of the pressure that the Chinese authorities have actively imposed on other countries. A representative of the Swedish Falun Gong Information Centre commented, “The most obvious probability is that her name has been included on the Chinese government’s blacklist. Otherwise, why would she be arrested?” Staff members at the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok visited Mrs. Svensson in prison. Chief Consul Mr. Stellan Berg told a Swedish news agency that, “Mrs. Svensson feels the environment of the detention centre is all right, but the cell is very crowded. There are many people inside it.” At the moment, nobody is sure how long Mrs. Svensson will be detained for.

Translated from Chinese at http://yuanming.net/articles/200305/20147.html