December 10 was International Human Rights Day. Los Angeles Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles to mark this important day and call on China to release Charles Li.
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| A banner reads, "Stop Jiang regime's persecution against Falun Gong Practitioners" | Ms. Yeong-Ching Foo tells RFA about the plight of Charles Li |
The press conference started at 11 am, with local Falun Gong practitioners and Charles Li's fiancé Ms. Yeong-Ching Foo in attendance. They called on the Chinese authorities to stop violating Charles Li's rights and release him unconditionally.
Charles Li was arrested by Chinese public security officials at Guangzhou Airport when he returned China last January. He was later given a three year sentence and is being held in Nanjing Prison. Since his arrest, his fiancé Ms. Yeong-Ching Foo, a software engineer in Northern California, has tried all possible means to rescue him. Most recently, she initiated a "Car Tour to Rescue Charles Li" effort, driving across the U.S. from coast to coast to raise public awareness about Charles' plight.
In today's press conference, Ms. Foo said that U.S. consulate officials in Shanghai had visited Charles on November 25 and told her about Charles' recent situation last Monday.
According to Ms. Foo, Charles Li's situation has deteriorated. Attempting to force Charles Li to give up his belief in Falun Gong and admit guilt, the prison authorities have subjected him to brainwashing. The mandatory brainwashing sessions have been increased from 3 hours a day to all day long, and include 4 to 5 hours' group brainwashing, and 1 to 3 hours' individual brainwashing by specially trained National Security agents. He is also repeatedly forced to watch anti-Falun Gong video programs.
Ms. Foo said that the prison authorities instructed 6 criminals to monitor Charles Li around the clock. These criminals report Charles Li's activities frequently; they even follow him when he uses the bathroom. In addition, the prison authorities have forced these criminals to verbally abuse him and beat him up. The prison has recently installed two cameras to study and monitor his every move.
Ms Foo also pointed out that the prison officials have turned down Charles Li's request to meet U.S. consulate officials 5 times. U.S. consulate officials have recently protested against this and they also protest against the prison for encouraging criminals to abuse Charles Li and forcing Charles to attend brainwashing sessions.
Ms. Foo felt very sad about her fiancé Charles Li's prolonged suffering in China. She said: "Brainwashing is a means of mental torture. In appearance, the person suffering from brainwashing doesn't have any cuts and bruises; however, forcing a person to give up his belief is equivalent to forcing him to give up his conscience and himself. The person consequently loses his own dignity. He would not be himself any more. He would feel that he would rather die. Therefore, brainwashing is a torture no less than other physical torture methods." She hoped that U.S. government, the media and the public can pay close attention to this case: Write to Nanjing Prison and the U.S. ambassador in China to stop Nanjing Prison's human rights violations against Charles Li and rescue him as soon as possible.
Professor Yingnian Wu from the University of California at Los Angeles said that the plight of Charles Li reflected the persecution Falun Gong practitioners had suffered for their freedom of belief and other basic rights. Professor Wu indicated that the persecution against Falun Gong was launched and implemented by Jiang Zemin and he should be brought to justice for the crimes that he has committed. To date, Jiang has been sued in many nations in North America and Europe. The new leadership of China should not give in and indulge Jiang's vicious policy, and it should end this persecution from the perspective of being responsible to the people and history.
Yi Liu, Charles Li's ex-roommate, recalled one incident that happened to Charles Li: Charles once went back to mainland China to attend an academic conference on medicine, and his Falun Gong books were all confiscated before he was allowed to enter the country.
Mr. Liu said that the Jiang regime tried its best to cover up the truth about Falun Gong, while at the same time it kept creating new lies to frame Falun Gong. Even a U.S. citizen like Charles Li has been tortured in such a way; it is beyond imagination how the Jiang regime treats its own citizens. He hopes that all kind-hearted people and governments will pay close attention to the human rights of Chinese Falun Gong practitioners and re-establish the freedom of Falun Gong practitioners to live and believe.
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