Atsushi Kaneko Appeals in Mexico for the Release of his Wife Yoko from a Chinese Forced Labour Camp

Mr. Atsushi Kaneko, a Japanese citizen, came to Los Cabos, Mexico, on October 24th 2002. On that afternoon, Mr. Kaneko held an interview with TVC and Reuters, in which he appealed for the release of his Chinese-born wife, Yoko Kaneko, who is jailed in a labor camp in China for publicizing the truth about Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned by Beijing's communist rulers.

Mr. Kaneko said that his wife Yoko Kaneko is a Japanese permanent resident, and she was unlawfully arrested in Beijing on May 2002. Mrs. Yoko Kaneko was sentenced to one and a half years of labor "re-education" by Beijing police on June 24 for distributing Falun Gong-related materials on Beijing streets in May 2002.

On August 15th, Mr. Kaneko visited his wife in Daxing County Female Forced Labor Camp in Beijing. Mr. Kaneko said that he could observe that his wife was obviously extremely weak, due to the torture and brainwashing she was receiving there. During that one and only meeting, the contents of their conversation were severely restricted.

Mr. Kaneko had been verbally promised by Chinese authorities that he could visit his wife on a monthly basis. But later on he received a notice dated September 6th saying that his travel application was denied. The words on the denial notice said: "you should know the reason." Mr. Atsushi Kaneko expressed that this is strongly against human rights and he wonders why the Jiang government did not write down a reason for denying his visa application.

Mr. Kaneko said that now he doesn't even know where his wife is being held. His relatives called the Forced Labor Camp and they said Yoko was no longer there.

Mr. Kaneko said he and his wife have had two and a half years of happy marriage, and now families from both sides are suffering from such unlawful acts. He hopes all countries, all governments, and all warm-hearted citizens can help to rescue his wife from China.