Iceland Media Reports: Spokesmen of Falun Gong Visiting Iceland

Spokesmen of Falun Gong from Europe and the United States have sent the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Justice a letter expressing their wish to have a dialogue with the Icelandic government about the banning of practitioners here in June.

Falun Gong´s newsletter states that the spokesmen of the organization will come to Iceland in the beginning of September and that they will enlist the legal counsel of Ragnar Aðalsteinsson, Supreme Court lawyer. They are hoping to begin a dialogue between the spokesmen of Falun Gong and the Icelandic government as soon as possible, preferably finishing by September 6th.

In a letter to the ministers, also copied to other members of parliament, it says the Falun Dafa organization in Europe and the United States have formed a dialogue committee to discuss the Falun Gong issues in Iceland. No progress has been made yet to solve the problems related to the banning of practitioners from entering the country during Jiang Zemin's visit.

The Committee Hopes the Damage Can be Reversed

A news release the organization sent yesterday stated that more than 100 Falun Gong practitioners had been denied visas, turned back at the border, held hostage or denied entry to Flugleidir´s [Icelandair] airplanes in Europe and the United States.

They stated that Falun Gong practitioners repeatedly asked for meetings with the Icelandic government, and governments of other countries have made requests on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners.

The committee hopes to come to an agreement concerning how to make up for the damage that has been done. They point out that a solution could possibly include public apology, payments to the people involved, a public statement condemning the persecution of Falun Gong in China, and that all the practitioners on the blacklist be given access to the list and that the list will be destroyed.

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Frettabladid, August 22nd, 2002

Falun Gong:

Asking for a Telephone-Conference with Ministers

Falun Gong members in Europe and the United States have established a committee that will discuss their historical visit to Iceland this summer. They claim to have made continuous efforts to have Icelandic authorities discuss their own actions. They think that the Icelandic government owes them, their own people and the world an explanation of their actions and have written a letter to the Prime Minister, the Minister of justice and the Minister of foreign affairs asking them to discuss these matters with the Falun Gong committee via telephone-conference at the end of August.

Illugi Gunnarsson, the Prime Minister's assistant, did not recall having seen the letter and was not able to say what the reaction to it might be. He pointed out though that it is a complicated matter to have a meeting with three ministers. It is not at all certain that Falun Gong members will succeed in having the Icelandic ministers listen, but representatives from the organization will visit our country in the beginning of September. They will, as before, have lawyer Ragnar Adalsteinsson´s counsel and try to have a meeting with authorities.