China Requests U.S. Consulate in Shanghai to Coerce U.S. Citizen Charles Li into Giving Up his Belief in Falun Gong

Ms. Yeong-ching Foo, Dr. Charles Li's fiancée, contacting the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai to get information about Dr. Li's plight in jail. U.S. Consular officials in Shanghai visited Dr. Charles Li, who is being detained in Nanjing Prison.

U.S. Citizen Charles Li has been illegally detained in China for 9 months. His fiancée, Ms. Yeong-ching Foo, said that U.S. Consular officials in Shanghai went to Nanjing Prison to visit him on October 16 and that he is suffering from the torture of brainwashing 24-hours a day.

The U.S. Consular officials in Shanghai told Ms. Foo that Nanjing Prison ordered 8 inmates to monitor and control Dr. Li around the clock. The prison continuously tortures him through brainwashing and coerces him to attend "education" program every day. They have coerced him to attend so-called "Education Workshops," to watch slanderous movies and to confess. They continuously try to force him to give up Falun Gong practice and to write so-called "repentance letters."

Ms. Foo said that the prison reduced the number of inmates monitoring Charles Li last month because of the deprecation of the U.S. Consulate. However, before October 16, the prison again increased the number of inmates to 8 and had them take turns monitoring Dr. Li around the clock. If some inmates developed sympathy towards him, they would be immediately removed.

Ms. Foo said that not long ago, if Dr. Li was to sit on the floor, those inmates would immediately grab him and ruthlessly throw him onto the floor. Even such a simple and normal move would lead to torture. Dr. Li showed his injured heel and fingers to the U.S. Consular officials who visited him.

Ms. Foo said that the prison has not allowed Dr. Li to talk with his parents for several weeks. (His parents live in China.)

Ms. Foo said that U.S. Consular officials in Shanghai told her that the prison has violated human rights by attempting to brainwash Dr. Li. The officials also told her that the sentencing of Dr. Li to prison is not the final verdict and Dr. Li has the right to appeal. However, the prison has been coercing him to confess; this kind of treatment is utterly a violation of law.

Ms. Foo said that the Chinese government recently even requested the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai to coerce U.S. citizen Dr. Li to give up the Falun Gong practice.

Ms. Foo said that every moment she shared Charles's agony from brainwashing. This kind of agony is hard to comprehend if one is not in the plight. Charles is a person who does true things, tells the truth and has great compassion and tolerance. However, the prison is forcing Charles to change through all the means of torture. This puts him in deep agony.

Ms. Foo said that Charles went to China to let more Chinese know the truth of Falun Gong and expose the lies such as the staged Tiananmen Self-Immolation Incident that have been used by the Chinese government to frame Falun Gong. He just wanted to contribute to the efforts to end the unprecedented persecution as soon as possible. However, the Chinese regime is now brainwashing such a good person of great compassion and courage; this kind of conduct is very ferocious.

Ms. Foo said that more and more evidence show that the fundamental reason the Chinese regime arrested and detained Charles Li is that he is a Falun Gong practitioner. Charles' suffering and the treatments that he has received in prison also confirm this point. The fact that the Chinese government has requested the U.S. Consulate to coerce Charles Li to give up his practice of Falun Gong has completely revealed the Chinese government's shameless violation of the freedom of belief. Even a U.S. citizen has been tortured in such a way; it is beyond imagination how the Chinese government treats its own citizens.