Yoko Kaneko’s husband, Mr. Atsushi Kaneko, was also permitted to travel to China and meet briefly with his wife. During the meeting, he found her to have lost approximately 10 kilograms. There were bruise marks on her hands and she seemed “not right in her mind”. Their conversation was permitted only without Falun Gong content, and with a translator acting as a mediator between them.
Since her arrest, practitioners world-wide have been appealing to the Japanese government to speak out on her behalf. The following are two letters, from practitioners in Canada and Taiwan respectively, calling on the Japanese government to intervene in the situation and have Yoko Kaneko released and allow her to freely travel back to Japan to be reunited with her family.
Open Letter from Practitioners in Canada to Japanese Government Officials Appealing for the Rescue of Yoko Kaneko
Dear Members of the Japanese Government,
We would like to express our grave concern over the desperate situation that Japanese resident, Mrs. Yoko Kaneko, is currently enduring in a labour camp in China. We are writing to appeal to your kind-hearted good nature to make more determined efforts to secure her immediate release.
Mrs. Kaneko was illegally detained and sentenced to one and one half years of forced labour on June 24, 2002. Why did this happen? Mrs. Kaneko went to China to appeal for an end of the brutal persecution and human rights violations of people who enjoy the wonderful ancient cultivation practice called Falun Gong. People who practice Falun Gong are peaceful, productive members of society who strive to follow the universal principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance in all aspects of their lives.
In August, Chinese officials permitted Mr. Atsushi Kaneko to briefly visit his wife in the forced labour camp. He later confirmed in a press conference that his wife Yoko has been suffering physical and mental torture. She has lost significant weight and seems "not in her right mind."
It is disheartening to learn what Mrs. Kaneko endures, and that someone with such great courage, going to China to speak out against gross human rights violations, can be treated so brutally simply for appealing for justice. Courageous hearts such as hers should be treasured and respected, not persecuted.
In the past three years, the Canadian government has spoken out loudly under similar circumstances to obtain the release of three Falun Gong practitioners from Canada: Professor Zhang Kunlun, Zhu Ying and Shenli Lin. Similarly, the Irish government's efforts resulted in the successful release of Irish practitioner Zhao Ming. So, too, may your government's efforts lead to the timely release of Mrs. Yoko Kaneko.
We are very encouraged by the outpouring of support and to see so many kind-hearted people in Japan and around the world expressing their desire to see Mrs. Kaneko released. Thousands of Japanese citizens have joined Members of Parliament to sign petitions expressing their wish to see Mrs. Kaneko rescued. Mrs. Kaneko's husband, Mr. Atsushi Kaneko, recently delivered a petition bearing over 30,000 signatures to Mr. Seiken Sugiura, Senior Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs. A multi-party association was formed by 21 Japanese Members of Parliament to help obtain Mrs. Kaneko's release. We are confident that such virtuous actions will lead to success in obtaining Mrs. Kaneko's release, and in bringing a wonderful future to all who support them.
We trust that you, honourable members of the Japanese government, will follow the will of the people and do all in your power to bring Mrs. Kaneko home quickly and safely to her family in Japan, and we offer our most heartfelt encouragement for you to do so.
We look forward to hearing of your noble and unyielding actions to obtain the earliest possible release of Mrs. Yoko Kaneko, and thank you for your kind attention to this urgent matter.
Sincerely,
Falun Gong Practitioners in Canada
Taiwan Falun Dafa Association's Letter of Appeal to the Japanese Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Rescue of Yoko Kaneko
Dear Mr. Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs:
On behalf of the Falun Gong practitioners in Taiwan, we request that the Japanese government immediately help rescue Yoko Kaneko, whose life is currently in danger due to inhumane treatment by Jiang Zemin's regime in China. We hope that the Japanese government will, out of their humanitarian concern, help, through diplomatic channels and at an early date, to free Mrs. Kaneko from the persecution of her human rights, and return her to her family.
We've learned from Chinese media reports that Mrs. Yoko Kaneko was illegally arrested on May 24 while she was distributing Falun Gong truth-clarifying materials in Beijing. At the end of June, she was illegally sentenced without trial to one-and-a-half years of "re-education through forced labour." While she was detained in the Beijing Forced Labour Camp, she was brutally tortured and subjected to forced brainwashing. Yoko Kaneko's husband, Mr. Atsushi Kaneko, was allowed to visit Yoko in a Chinese jail on August 15. On his return, he said that he had seen that his wife was not in her right mind. She seemed to be an entirely different person. She was obviously extremely weak. She appeared to have lost 10 kilograms. Both of her wrists were black and blue. A few days before, Yoko suddenly fainted when her older sister visited her. Later she was sent to a hospital for treatment for four days. Her blood pressure had reached 220.
We are deeply concerned for Mrs. Kaneko's physical and mental condition. It pains our hearts. What Mrs. Kaneko is suffering reflects the reality of the brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by Jiang's regime. During the past three years, these good people who have remained committed to their belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance have been deprived by Jiang of their freedom of belief, personal freedom and property rights, which are guaranteed by the Chinese constitution. These innocent practitioners have been illegally arrested, sentenced to imprisonment and cruelly tortured. Their property has been confiscated, their families broken up and some of them killed. According to internal sources in China, over 1,600 people have been tortured to death. Over 100 thousand Falun Gong practitioners have been illegally sentenced to imprisonment and forcibly sent to labour camps or mental hospitals where they have been injected with nerve-damaging drugs that were banned here during World War II. In recent history, of the cases in which a nation's resources and the tool of law have been used in the systematic violation and brutal persecution of human rights, we think of Hitler's persecution of the Jews in Germany. However, the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners' human rights by Jiang's regime is even crueller.
Jiang has persecuted Falun Gong for three years. During these 1,000 days, Falun Gong practitioners living in democratic free countries all over the world have spent time and energy to tirelessly disclose the truth of the inhumane persecution to the governments and people of the world. They do this to engage the assistance of kind and just people in ending the brutal torture and the violation of human rights. Now, the international communities understand that the Falun Gong situation is not just a concern of the Chinese people, but a matter of international human rights. The governments of the U.S., Canada and other countries, as well as several famous international human rights organisations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, all issued an open statement condemning the persecution and requesting Jiang and the Chinese authorities to immediately stop the brutal crimes against the human rights and freedom of Falun Gong practitioners. The forces of justice in the international communities also have successfully rescued overseas practitioners who were detained in China for maintaining their belief in Falun Gong. These include Professor Zhang Kunlun from Canada, Ms. Zhu Ying, Mr. Lin Shenli, Australian citizen Ms. Zhang Cuiying, who is an artist, and Mr. Zhao Ming, a post-graduate student in Ireland.
Japan is a modern democratic country ruled by law. The Japanese people must understand that persecuting innocent people who abide by the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance violates basic human rights and offends human dignity. We believe that the Japanese government will surely assist good people, uphold justice and try all possible means to rescue Mrs. Kaneko, the wife of a Japanese citizen, who is still being persecuted by Jiang in China. We would like to express our sincere thanks for the efforts to rescue Mrs. Kaneko undertaken by the "Ultra Parties and Groups Assembly Alliance to Rescue Yoko Kaneko", which was founded by Japanese citizens and Japanese congressional members. We hope that the Japanese government will offer more specific and effective humanitarian assistance to help Mrs. Yoko Kaneko return to Japan as soon as possible to rejoin her husband and family.
Finally, please accept our sincere best wishes for both the nation of Japan and the Japanese people. We thank all just people of Japan for their concern and assistance in this matter of international human rights.
Taiwan Falun Dafa Association
August 2002
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