Statement from Practitioner Visiting UK who was Recently Unjustly Prosecuted in Hong Kong (Wong Yiu Hing)

My name is Wong Yiu Hing. I am a resident in Hong Kong. I am also a Falun Gong practitioner. My son, 9 years old, a British Overseas Passport holder and I came here to ask the UK and kind British people to help us. Below are my story and reasons why I came to the UK.

By 20th July 1999, Jiang Zemin did not care about 100 million peoples’ belief in Falun Gong and ordered the beginning of his brutal persecution. Falun Gong has made 100 million people become healthy and happy. People all think it was a mistake because it is against the freedom of beliefs in the Chinese legal system. Therefore, many Falun Gong practitioners have tried to let the Government know the truth and hope the mistake can be corrected.

In October 1999, my mother, my 2 sisters and I, together with my son and my sisters’ sons, went to Beijing to appeal. We unfurled a banner reading, “Falun Dafa is good”. However, the police forcefully took away the banner and arrested us. We all were sent to a detention centre. They did not give us any food and drink. Later, my mother and sisters were all transferred to another detention centre. I was deported to Hong Kong. Three children aged 9, 7 and 2 years old respectively, were looked after by other people. All of them wanted to see their mums every day but couldn¹t.

In March 2000, the persecution of Falun Gong became more cruel and furious. Jiang Zemin ignored Falun Gong practitioners’ peaceful appeals and made the persecution even worse. The number of deaths in police custody increased continuously. We decided to carry on appealing for an end to this persecution that is attacking Human Rights. We went to Beijing together with Australian and HK practitioners. However, before we arrived Beijing we were arrested by the police. They immediately sent us to different detention centres. My son was also put in a detention centre. Two days later, he was sent to my mother to look after. The police used all possible ways to force us giving up our belief. They know that we came from outside China; they tortured me without leaving any visible bruises, etc. They left me for a few months in a small room that was exposed to wind and rain. The surrounding walls were very high. A dirty wooden board were used as a bed. When it rained the whole bed was wet, which made me unable to sleep. Often, I had to stand for the whole night. There are many mosquitoes and insects that made me feel very frightened. Because there was no one else whom I could talk to I was so lonely and depressed. I was suffering mentally.

They did not allow me to have any mail correspondence. They did not let my family and friends know where I was. My family did not know whether I was still alive. Later, the police realised that making me lonely could not force me to give up my belief before they put me together with other prisoners. They encouraged other prisoners to beat and torture me. If they did so their stay in the detention centre would be reduced by one year. In order to get out of the detention centre as soon as possible, other prisoners beat me up. When I was on hunger strike to protest against this illegal detention, they force-fed me chilli powder in water. Under the order of Jiang Zemin, they kept me and an Australian practitioner for 8 months.

Because we are residents outside of China, the Chinese police persecuted us less than they tortured practitioners from China. Over 40 methods of torture have been applied to practitioners in China. It would be difficult to imagine by people whose home countries respect Human Rights. After I spent 8 months in a detention centre my ID had been taken away and I became a person on their “black list”. I can never go back to China and visit my parents. However, I would never have thought that my 9-year-old son was also on “black list”! In March this year, I sent my son on an airplane
to China because I could not go to visit my parents who were not allowed to visit me either. My son was looked after by the crew. When he tried to pass through customs, his name was found on the “blacklist”. Staff at the customs reported this to their supervisor who then reported to Beijing. Then they were ordered to send my son back to Hong Kong. They also forcefully searched his luggage. He was frightened and cried out for my parents who were waiting outside. After my parents learnt about the situation they were in tears and asked to see their grandson but were refused. Four policemen took my son in a room waiting for a flight next day to Hong Kong. Being monitored by four policemen he was extremely frightened and dared not sleep for the whole night.

The next day police ordered my family to pay a double fare and my son was sent back to Hong Kong. After a few days’ comfort and care, my son eventually calmed down. All these are difficult for people in whose countries respect is given to women and children. However, in China, thousands and thousands of families are suffering from this kind of persecution.

In March this year, four Swiss practitioners came to Hong Kong to make peaceful appeal after their visas to Mainland had been rejected. On 14th March they and twelve Hong Kong practitioners, one with New Zealand citizenship, started a hunger strike in front of the Peoples’ Republic of China Liaison Office, appealing for the end of to Jiang Zemin’s order “shoot on sight” and “kill without mercy” Falun Gong practitioners in China. I was one of the twelve Hong Kong practitioners.

Shortly after the appeal began, however, a Liaison Office official made a series of five phone calls to the Western Station Police, applying pressure to stop the appeal. The police responded, barricading the area and causing a complete obstruction of the pavement, forcing pedestrian traffic into the street. A few hours later, dozens of policemen began dragging us into police vans. Excessive force was used, such as strangling and applying painful pressure to sensitive acupuncture points. One of the policewomen pushed me on the ground. A few policewomen dragged me. Nine of us, including myself, were injured. Bruises were left on my legs and arms. My head was bleeding as well. After we were arrested, we were not allowed to see a doctor until 11pm.

We appealed peacefully by taking 7 square metres out of 130 square metres on the pavement. However, the police, under pressure from the China Liaison Office, used force to arrest us and sued us for blocking the street, etc.

On 15th August, a shocking verdict came out and the Judge ruled Falun Gong practitioners guilty for 7 charges. This has greatly upset the Hong Kong public who all know that their government has accepted the pressure from Jiang Zemin and caused damaged to Hong Kong’s Human Rights, legal system and “one country two systems”. We did not accept the verdict and made a further appeal.

I am a single mother. If our further appeal was turned down again, I would have been in prison. My son would have no adult to look after him because he could not go to China. Because of what we have experienced in China, we feel very strongly that what has happened to us must not happen in Hong Kong. However, under the pressure from Jiang Zemin, the democracy, freedom and Human Rights of Hong Kong have been damaged. The promise of the legal system to remain unchanged for 50 years has been broken: they have all changed only 5 years after the Handover. Therefore, I, together with another practitioner from Hong Kong, have come to the UK to appeal in person to the UK Government: Please help my family and the other 15 practitioners. Please help us for the sake of Hong Kong’s future. Human Rights, proper legal system and freedom in speech are what we must maintain in HK.