UK Citizen Detained in China Because He Practises Falun Gong

Falun Gong practitioners Xueying Bo and Ray Tang were arrested in the city of Shenzheng on the 31st of October and the 13th of November respectively. Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioners hope that the Hong Kong government will assist in their rescue.

The Scotsman reported on the 20th of November news of the arrest in mainland China, after Falun Gong practitioners had announced it the previous day. One of the practitioners that has been arrested is a British citizen. Practitioners also emphasised the importance of the Hong Kong government in obtaining their release.

The report on the Scotsman stated that “the Falun Gong group recognised one of the practitioners who has been detained as being a British citizen, called Ray Tang. As with a lot of Hong Kong citizens, he also holds a British passport. His relatives own a company in the city of Shenzheng in mainland China, a neighbour of Hong Kong. On the 13th of November, Ray Tang and a few of the company’s workers were taken away by the police. The Falun Gong group said that the other practitioner who was arrested was Xueying Bo, a twenty-eight year old housewife. She was arrested on the 30th of October while distributing truth clarifying DVDs in Shenzheng.”

The report also contained an account of how practitioners were prevented from appealing in Hong Kong during Jiang Zemin’s visit to celebrate the anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to mainland China. It mentioned that some practitioners were refused entry into Hong Kong and some Falun Gong practitioners, including a Scottish citizen Robert Gibson, were forced out of Hong Kong.

Finally the report ended with details of the extent of the persecution in China, saying that currently there are hundreds of practitioners who have been beaten to death, with more having been sent to labour camps and forced to renounce their faith.