Canada: Seven Family Members of Canadian Residents Rescued in 2003

The Canadian Branch of Global Mission to Rescue Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners recently sent letters to Canadian government offices to express their sincere gratitude to government officials for their help to rescue the family members of Canadian residents in the past year. In 2003, seven family members of Canadian residents who had been illegally detained in China for practicing Falun Gong were released under rescue efforts. They are Yang Yueli, Lin Mingli, Wu Zhanzhong, Lu Xiuzhen, Yuelei, Liu Baoxing and Chen Yinghua.

Lu Xiuzhen, a retired teacher who had been detained in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, was released in August, 2003. (Standing behind her was her daughter, Canadian citizen Li Bo.)	Wu Zhanzhong, brother of Toronto resident Wu Yanli, was released in May, 2003.
Chen Yinghua	Liu Baoxing, a sixty-four-year-old retired engineer, returned home in December, 2003.

The Canadian Branch of Global Mission to Rescue Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners had a series of rescue activities in the past year, including "Car Tour to Rescue Family Members," "Bicycle Tour to Rescue Family Members," visiting Canadian government officials, press conferences, signature collection and seeking help from non-government organizations. More than fifty parliament members, provincial parliament members and mayors wrote letters to related Canadian government offices to ask for help with the rescue.

Attention was focused on this effort after fifty thousand post cards were sent to Canadian Prime Minister Chretien to call for rescue of family members of Canadians before his visit to China in last October.

The Global Mission also made phone calls, sent faxes and letters to forced labour camps, introduced the truth about Falun Gong directly to camp personnel, exposed the lies of Chinese propaganda and broke the information blockage in China. Many policemen and government officials in China learned the truth. After receiving truth-clarification materials about Falun Gong, a local government official in China learned the facts and drastically changed his view of Falun Gong practitioners.

Among the seven rescued family members, Yang Yueli had been detained in Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp, a place notorious for its cruel torture of Falun Gong practitioners. Lu Xiuzhen had been detained in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, a place described as hell in the human world. Chen Yinghua had almost lost her life when being force-fed on a restraining bed. [Note: The four limbs of the practitioner are stretched out and tied to the four corners of an icy-cold metal bed. The practitioner cannot move at all. Neither is he or she allowed to get up to eat, drink, or go to the bathroom. This treatment would last from several hours up to more than a dozen days. This type of cruel torture causes severe damage to the practitioner both mentally and physically.]

Out of the seven family members, five of them were released up to eleven months before their terms were due. 2003 is the year that saw the most rescued family members since July, 1999.

There are still sixteen family members of Canadians under illegal detention in China. The Global Mission in Canada will hold nation-wide rescue activities until all of them and all other Falun practitioners are released. There are tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners under illegal detention in Chinese jails, forced labour camps and brainwashing classes and are cruelly tortured. We will continue our rescue efforts as usual for all Falun Gong practitioners and will expose the crimes committed by Jiang's regime.