Ireland: Irish Falun Dafa Association Holds a Press Conference as Liu Feng Returns to Ireland

Liu Feng, a Falun Gong practitioner who once studied in Ireland, arrived at Dublin Airport at 7:45PM on July the 25th after experiencing persecution in China. The Irish Falun Dafa Association held a press conference in Trinity College Dublin on July the 29th.

	Deputy Mayor of Dublin City Andrew Montague
Spokesman of Amnesty International in Ireland Jim Loughran	South Dublin county councillor Ruth Coppinger

Although the Chinese Ambassador to Ireland said Liu Feng could return to Ireland following the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit this May, the Re-education Labour Camp did not give him a break until Liu Feng left China. Liu Feng has been monitored, so he was unable to say good-bye to his parents in order to dodge the watch-dog security personnel. He called his parents after he left China who told him that persons from the Re-education Labour Camp went to his home to look for him as soon as he left China.
In order that Liu’s wife could safely come to Ireland, the press conference did not take place until his wife arrived in Ireland. Liu’s wife arrived on Wednesday night.

In addition to Liu Feng and the Irish Falun Gong practitioners, Irish Senator Mr. David Norris, the spokesman of Amnesty International in Ireland Mr. Jim Loughran, Deputy Mayor of Dublin City Mr. Andrew Montague, and South Dublin County Councillor Mrs. Ruth Coppinger attended the press conference and expressed their points of view. They have all actively taken part in the rescue efforts to release Liu Feng and all of them felt pleased that Liu Feng and his wife could return safely to Ireland. In an interview by a journalist, the Deputy Mayor of Dublin City said, “I feel very pleased. I personally extend greetings and a welcome to Liu Feng and his wife. I think it’s only a small step and we have a longer road to travel. I think it’s wrong to detain people for their religious belief, it’s wrong to detain people for their political cause and it’s wrong to detain Falun Gong practitioners. Thus China is far from the required standard of human rights. They have to release all political prisoners, they must set all religious prisoners free and they need to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners”.

When one of the reporters asked whether there were reasons behind the scenes to explain why there have been more reports on trade with China and less reports about human rights, Mrs. Coppinger stressed that “It’s very important that trade interests shouldn’t be put above human rights.”

Liu Feng returned to China for the Christmas vacation in 1999. He was arrested and his passport was confiscated because he submitted a petition letter to the then-Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji’s home calling for an end to the persecution against Falun Gong. Liu Feng was released after being into custody for fifteen days. In May 2002, Liu Feng was married in Dalian.

In June 2002, Liu Feng applied for a new passport and he was ready to return to Ireland. Whilst waiting for his visa, he was secretly abducted and thrown into Yaochia Detention Centre in Dalian, where he was detained for eight months for no just reason. After that he was sentenced to a two-year term in Dalian Re-education Labour Camp. Extensive custody, hunger strike and heavy slave labour made Liu’s health go from bad to worse. He had fainted several times and been released to receive medical treatment outside the labour camp.

Meanwhile, wide attention to Liu Feng had been paid by the Irish Falun Gong practitioners, various universities, human rights organisations, government officials and kind-hearted people. Rescue efforts soon got underway. Liu Feng is the second persecuted Falun Gong practitioner rescued from China after Zhao Ming. Currently, another Falun Gong practitioner and former student in Ireland, Yang Fang, is still being held under house arrest in Shengyang City, China, because her passport was confiscated.