Sixteen Members of the United States Congress Jointly Write to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Expressing Concern over the Persecution of Falun Gong

On October 5th, 2005, sixteen Members of the United States Congress jointly wrote a letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to express the grave concern of the United States Congress regarding the Chinese government's systematic persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and its failure to protect religious freedom. The letter states: "The U.S. Congress requests that you release Mrs. Lixiang Lu, Mr. Yongkang Lu, Ms. Yuan Yuju, and Mr. Liang Jinhui and urges an independent investigation of the police confiscation of property and unlawful arrest. Those found to be responsible for violations of Chinese law and its international human rights commitments should be prosecuted and brought to justice." Below is the letter from the 16 Members of Congress.

Congress of the United States
House of Representatives

October 5, 2005

The Honorable Wen Jiabao
Premier, Government of the People's Republic of China
c/o The Embassy of China
2300 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20008

Dear Mr. Premier:

We are writing to express the grave concern of the United States Congress regarding the Chinese government's systematic persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and its failure to protect religious freedom. We are particularly concerned with reports that several Falun Gong practitioners have recently been arrested and detained, Mrs. Lixiang Lu, and Mr. Yongkang Lu by the Shenyang Police, and Ms. Yuan Yuju and Mr. Liang Jinhui by the Luzhou Police.

Police reportedly confiscated their possessions such as computers, printers, bankbooks, and cash from them in an apparent application of Chinese policy to illegally impound detainee's possessions. Yuan Yuju was sentenced for a year of forced labor, which she is now serving at the Zizhong Nanmu Temple Female Labor Camp for "using [slanderous term omitted] to sabotage the law," an offense she allegedly committed while selling Falun Gong music on MP3 players. Liang Jinhui has not been charged with a crime, yet he is being held at the Luzhou Detention Center and has been denied the right for familial visits and the legal representation of a lawyer. Furthermore, we are concerned that conditions in the detention center and labor camp will likely resulted in immeasurable damaged to the health of the detainees. The U.S. deplores the Chinese government's continued persecution of religious groups, and call upon the People's Republic of China to respect its citizen's rights to freedom of religious as is guaranteed by the Chinese Constitution.

The U.S. Congress requests that you release Mrs. Lixiang Lu, Mr. Yongkang Lu, Ms. Yuan Yuju, and Mr. Liang Jinhui and urges an independent investigation of the police confiscation of property and unlawful arrest. Those found to be responsible for violations of Chinese law and its international human rights commitments should be prosecuted and brought to justice.

Sincerely,

Christopher H. Smith
Member of Congress

Donald M. Payne
Member of Congress

Jeff Fortenberry
Member of Congress

Mark Green
Member of Congress

Diane E. Watson
Member of Congress

Thaddeus G. McCotter
Member of Congress

Robert Menendez
Member of Congress

Mike Pence
Member of Congress

Frank Pallone
Member of Congress

Gregory Meeks
Member of Congress

Lynn Woolsey
Member of Congress

Michael A. Ferguson
Member of Congress

Carolyn Maloney
Member of Congress

Bill Pascrell
Member of Congress

Robert Andrews
Member of Congress

Rush Holt
Member of Congress