PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Cambodia's national police chief has admitted for the first time that two Chinese Falun Gong [practitioners] were arrested and deported earlier this month, but claimed the police did not know they were under U.N. protection.
Hok Lundy's comments are the first public acknowledgment by a Cambodian official that the couple were forcibly returned to China. Hok Lundy had said last week that he had "no knowledge" of the couple's arrest.
According to Falun Gong [practitioners] in New York the couple were arrested Aug. 2 and deported Aug. 9 to China. They had arrived in Cambodia in 1998 from China.
The incident attracted international attention because the two were deemed "persons of concern" by the United Nations, and Cambodia was obligated by international law to prevent them from being sent to China. [...]
Hok Lundy said the two were deported [...] at the "request of the Chinese Embassy." [...]
UNHCR officials did not immediately return phone calls Thursday for comment. But UNHCR officials have said in the past that they contacted Cambodian officials after the Aug. 2 arrests.[...]
The small group of Chinese Falun Gong [practitioners] in Phnom Penh had enjoyed wide freedom in Cambodia until some six weeks ago, said Jiang Linzhong, one of at least two Falun Gong practitioners currently under U.N. protection here.
Source:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020829/ap_wo_en_po/cambodia_falun_gong_1
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