International Petition to Human Rights Groups, the UK Government and the Chinese Authorities

The following text is from a petition calling for the urgent rescue of a Falun Dafa practitioner who is currently being persecuted in China. Her fiance is a PhD student at UMIST in Manchester, England.

Ms. Yongjie Zhu, is 29 years old. She is fiancee of Mr. Weiguo Xie, a PhD student at UMIST in Manchester. She lives in Beijing, China. She is a staff of Tsinghua Tongfang Group Company. She was arrested by the Ministry of National Security in China on 4th November 2002 in Beijing. Since then, her whereabouts was not known.

Yongjie started practising Falun Gong in 1995. She became a more helpful person at home and at work. But, in July 20th 1999, the Chinese Government banned Falun Gong and began a campaign of brutal persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. Yongjie was forced to leave home and live a very unsettled life since 29th October 2002 because of the pressure from police during 16th Congress of Community Party in China (Police frequently harass and arrest practitioners prior to major political events or anniversaries in China). She also lost her job.

After Yongjie was arrested, her parents were interrogated by the Ministry of National Security about Mr. Weiguo Xie’s activities in UK. He is also a Falun Gong practitioner and has been blacklisted by the Chinese Ministry because of his involvement with Falun Gong human rights events in UK.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient and advanced system for improving body, mind and spirit. It involves the practise of gentle, meditative exercises and the improvement of one’s spiritual awareness according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. Yongjie is only one of the hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners unlawfully detained in China. Many thousands of practitioners have been sent labour camps without trial, tortured, or abused in mental hospitals. To date, 521 have died of torture or ill-treatment in police custody.

Yongjie Zhu	Yongjie Zhu with her Fiance Weiguo Xie

We, the undersigned, global citizens, and mindful of justice, hope that all Human Rights Groups, British government can help to request Chinese authorities to free Ms. Yongjie Zhu and all imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners in China.