Letter from Zhao Ming to the American Ambassador of Ireland

24 July 2003

Ambassador James Casey Kenny,
The Embassy of the United States of America
42 Elgin Road, Dublin 4

Your Excellency,

I am a postgraduate student in Trinity College Dublin. I am from China and a Falun Dafa practitioner. I am writing to you on my own behalf, as well as on behalf of the Irish Falun Dafa Association, to bring to your attention the issue of United States citizen Dr. Charles Li M.D. who is imprisoned in China.

Dr. Li was arrested almost six months ago as soon as he disembarked from the airplane at China's Guangzhou Airport. In March, Dr. Li received a three-year sentence and was taken to Nanjing Prison.

According to reports from the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai:

• Dr. Li is being physically assaulted every time he tries to practise the Falun Gong meditation and exercises.


• Dr. Li has been stripped of all books related to Falun Gong, and forbidden to read them.


• Dr. Li is being forced to attend anti-Falun Gong brainwashing sessions in an attempt to coerce him to renounce his beliefs. When Dr. Li refused to attend one session, an inmate, encouraged by prison guards, knocked Dr. Li to the ground and then dragged him down a flight of stairs.

I was persecuted in Beijing Tuanhe labour camp for 1 year and ten months. I did nothing illegal. My arrest was in effect abduction. I was detained in a labour camp without trial. There the police guards tortured me and other Falun Gong practitioners in various ways to force us to renounce Falun Gong. I experienced being beaten by ten inmates, electrically shocked by five police guards with six electric batons, forced to squat for ten hours a day, and suffered long periods of sleep deprivation.

After my return to Ireland, almost every journalist asked me one question: Why does the regime persecute Falun Gong?

My personal experience shows that the persecution of Falun Gong is completely targeting our belief. The fundamental reason I have discovered is that the communist regime does not allow any other ideology to exist. They have been doing this all through the history of the Peoples Republic of China. During the “Cultural Revolution” they damaged and eradicated all Chinese traditional ideologies including Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. No westerner can understand this. I would say you cannot measure their actions with a normal thinking mind. All this amounts to an evil regime. To maintain the communist ideology that in fact has only brought tribulation and poverty, their methods rely solely on propaganda, brainwashing and persecution. Such persecution has happened in every decade since the founding of PRC. Over time more than a half of China’s population has been persecuted.

Fortunately as an overseas student, my case was very much a concern of the international community. Later the Irish Taoiseach Mr. Bertie Ahern, the Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Brian Cowen and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mrs. Mary Robinson all raised my case with the Chinese government and finally were instrumental in obtaining my release last year.

What deserves mentioning is that I am a Chinese citizen. The Irish government had no consular function in my case. But they raised the issue from a human rights perspective and finally succeeded in getting me released. While Dr. Li is a United States citizen, how can the US administration allow one of its citizens to be illegally jailed and persecuted by the Chinese regime? From the experience of my case, it is very necessary to raise the issue of Charles Li at the highest level of all democratic governments. This cannot be delayed further. Every moment in a Chinese prison is a hell on earth experience. We cannot leave Dr. Li to experience the same torture as I did. I believe it would be very helpful if you could write a letter to President Bush and ask him to intervene.

Thank you for your time. Wish you a great success in your work.

Yours sincerely,

Zhao Ming