Coming to Geneva to Appeal for My Younger Sister and to Expose the Persecution of Falun Gong by the 610 Office

Lisa Liang, an Australian citizen, came to Geneva in early March, during the Human Rights Conference and appealed for the release of Tang Yiwen, her younger sister who was imprisoned in China. Due to great international pressure, Tang Yiwen was released several days later. On April the 14th, Lisa Liang came to Geneva again to continue to appeal for those Chinese Falun Gong practitioners still imprisoned and persecuted in China. She accepted a telephone interview by our reporter.

Reporter: Could you talk about the situation when you came to Geneva to appeal during the opening of the Human Rights Conference at the United Nations?

Lisa: Ok. About one month ago, I came to Geneva. On the first day, when I arrived in Geneva, my younger sister, Tang Yiwen, was still locked up in the Chatoudao Legal School in Guangdong Province. Though it is called a Legal School, it is a brainwashing class, which is set up to force Falun Gong practioners to give up their beliefs. She went on hunger strike to protest against being illegally kidnapped. I was told that she was critically ill. The next day, I handed in a letter detailing my sister’s situation to the chief of the Human Rights Conference in the United Nations in Geneva. He comes from Australia. I also visited the Human Rights Office of the United Nations, radio stations, and TV stations, among which are 30 media organisations in total. I appealed to them for help to rescue my sister and other Falun Gong practitioners. When I called China that night, I learned that my sister, Tang Yiwen, was released at midnight on March 15, Beijing time.

Reporter: Why was Tang Yiwen arrested this time?

Lisa: As far as I know, my sister was locked up twice before this. The second time, she was detained in a labor camp for 3 years and released in August 2003. She is the only sister I have. I had lived in Australia for more than ten years and I felt like inviting her to visit me. My sister’s application to Australia on February 2004 was turned down. A week later, February 23, she was kidnapped by 6 to 7 policemen in 3 cars when she walked home after having a meal with some friends. A teacher walking by asked, “What’s going on?” He was detained and later released after being questioned.

Reporter: As you just mentioned, before Tang Yiwen was released in August 2003, she was detained for 3 years. How were things at that time?

Lisa: She went through a lot of torture during her last detention in Chatoudao labour camp in Guangdong Province. She was suspended from the ceiling by having her legs tied for a couple of days. It was very difficult to disentangle them as the string, blood, and pus were stick together. Because of this, one of the bones in her leg protrudes and she couldn’t walk for a long period time. Both of her legs are deformed now.

Reporter: Did she experience similar treatment this time when arrested?

Lisa: She started a hunger strike for the first day when she was locked up in the brainwashing class. She was kept alone in a small room with no windows. She could see neither sky nor other Dafa practitioners. In the middle of the night she often heard shrill cries from Falun Gong practitioners next door. Sometimes the cries lasted for a very long period of time. In such an environment, it would drive a normal person crazy. During her hunger strike, my sister had a shock several times. It took my mother eight hours to rush to the place where she was locked up. Under strong pressure from my mother and other relatives, the police finally agreed to send my sister to the hospital. However, about five or six people from the brainwashing class followed her to the hospital. They stayed outside her room and tried to force my sister to give up Falun Gong. My sister continued the hunger strike.

Even when the 610 Office was under great pressure internationally to release my sister, in the end they asked my family to sign a paper to take responsibility for everything including the medical costs. They only wrote down that my sister went on hunger strike but did not write down the reasons for her hunger strike nor what the policemen did to my sister. To begin with, my mother refused to sign. However, when she saw that my sister had been on hunger strike for 19 days, she signed her name. The 610 Office refused to give her a copy of the original document afterward.

Reporter: You came to Geneva last month and your sister was then released. What’s your purpose this time?

Lisa: It’s not finished yet as my sister hasn’t got a VISA, nor have the authorities given any response. As long as she is still in China, she’s in a dangerous situation. She was arrested for no reason. As a matter of fact, as long as they want to arrest Falun Gong practitioners, they can find various reasons. It’s something about her VISA application this time. Next time, it could be some other excuse. They have different excuses each time, or they don’t even need an excuse. It so happens when your family is brought away from home. So, only when the persecution on Falun Gong comes to an end can my sister and other Falun Gong practitioners stop fearing for their lives. This is why I come to Geneva again. I come to appeal for all Falun Gong practitioners.

Reporter: During the United Nations’ Conference, Falun Gong practitioners speak to government officials in many countries and to non-governmental organizations about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. A lot of people consider that the persecution of Falun Gong in China is the biggest violation against human rights. What’s your point of view on this?

Lisa: The persecution on Falun Gong by Jiang Zemin and his cronies, in my opinion, is indeed without precedence in history. The depth and breadth is unprecedented. The degree to which those practitioners are persecuted is beyond description. I just gave the example of my sister to you. Falun Gong practitioners who were persecuted to death suffered even more and even worse. As far as the breadth of the persecution is concerned, it is not merely the 70 million Falun Gong practitioners but also their families who are persecuted. Take my sister for example. All our relatives in Guangdong Province as well as every family member of my brother-in-law were interrogated, examined, and threatened by the 610 Office. The 610 Office in Guangzu made an 8-hour special trip to find my parents in Maoming to interrogate and examine them about my sister, as did the 610 Office in Maoming. Both my brother-in-law and my parents were blackmailed for money a couple of times. It is my parents that paid her medical expense this time. It was hard to believe that the teacher, who does not know my sister and who just happened to be passing by, was also detained merely because he said, “What’s going on?”

Reporter: It seems that they spent a lot of manpower and financial resources on your sister.

Lisa: Yes, it’s true. Plain clothes policemen in followed my sister several times and spent a lot of manpower and financial resources. In the place where my sister was locked up when she went to appeal in Beijing, there are hired thugs paid especially to beat Falun Gong practitioners. It also cost a certain amount of money for the 610 Office to find my parents in Maoming. Other examples include telephone monitoring, etc. Are these not from the common people? I think the common people in China are having a tough life as the money they work laboriously to earn is spent by Jiang Zemin to conduct wrongdoings and to catch good people. They will not be willing to accept this when they learn the facts.

Reporter: OK. Thanks for accepting our interview. We hope your sister can gain true freedom soon.

Lisa: Thank you!