Houston: Press Conference in front of the Chinese Consulate for the Global Rescue of the Family Members of Falun Gong Practitioners (Photos)

By Houston Dafa practitioners

On October 7, 2002 between 12pm and 1pm, Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference in front of the Chinese Consulate in Houston for the Global Rescue of the Family Members of Falun Gong Practitioners.

Reporters from World Journal Daily and 90.1 FM KPFT interviewed practitioners and reported on the event.

Practitioners in North America initiated the Global Campaign to Rescue Family Members of Falun Gong Practitioners. The campaign received support from the "Global Action Committee for Rescuing the Family Members of Falun Gong Practitioners" and practitioners from around the world.

Several Falun Gong practitioners who had been directly subjected to persecution or whose family members were persecuted in China gave speeches at the press conference [brief details below].

Ms. Wang Xiaodan, a student from the University of Texas spoke first at the conference. Her father, Mr. Wang Zhiwen has been sentenced to 17 years in prison because of his belief in Falun Gong, and was subjected to various tortures while in jail. Ms. Wang called upon all kind-hearted people of the world, especially the United States President to help rescue her father.

The mother of Jason Wang from Houston is being detained in a mental hospital because of her practice of Falun Gong. The doctor in the hospital told Jason's father, "She was kept in a psychiatric hospital, not because she has a mental problem, but because she appealed for Falun Gong." Another doctor told Wang directly, "We forcibly injected drugs into your mother to control her so she could not go to appeal. Actually she could be discharged from the hospital anytime as long as the police allow it." Even though Jason is in the United States, he is also a victim of the persecution; both Jason and his wife had their Chinese passports cancelled by the Chinese consulate in Houston due to his involvement in Falun Gong activities. He has since lost his job as a university researcher. His family life has been put in a very difficult situation.

The mother of Zeng Ming, also from Houston, was detained because she is a Falun Gong practitioner. Through her relatives' efforts and large amount of ransom, she was released but is still under close surveillance.

Australian citizen Dai Zhizhen's husband, Chen Chengyong, was thrown into jail after he delivered an appeal letter to the Beijing Appeal Office calling for an end to the persecution. Police beat him so badly that he died in jail.
The last time Dai's saw her husband was when her daughter, Fadu, was just 9 months old. She had expected her husband to return to Australia and their family after making his appeal. She received the news of her husbands death after a practitioner reported it on a Falun Dafa website. It was only after the Australian government’s help that Dai obtained his ashes [the police cremated his body to hide any evidence of his death. There have been many accounts of police doing this to Falun Gong practitioners.]

Lin Shenli from Canada was detained in a Chinese forced labour camp for two years after he appealed for Falun Gong. Through the Canadian government's help, his wife's appeals to the international community as well as many practitioners' help he finally regained his freedom and was reunited with his wife in Canada.

These speeches give some examples of what Falun Gong practitioners have experienced during the past more than three years of brutal persecution. In China there are still hundreds of thousands of Falun practitioners still detained in jails and labour camps and subjected to mental and physical torture. Some have been tortured to death.

Today Falun Gong practitioners call upon kind people from all walks of life, the international community and government to act urgently to rescue Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted in China. Let us act urgently to rescue those Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted, put an end to this brutal persecution and allow more kind people to practice Falun Gong free from harm.