20 June 2002

I would like to express my strong opposition to the decision of Iceland's ministry to ban all Falun Gong practitioners from entering Iceland on the occasion of President Jiang Zemin's visit to that country.

I believe that more that 30 people of both Chinese and European nationality were detained at the airport upon arrival in June 2002. In addition, Taiwanese passport holders were stopped on Monday, June 10, and moved to a school building, which was turned into a detention centre.

The detention of people with the aim to stop them from peacefully protesting is not only a major violation of basic political and human rights, but also a violation of Chinese and European law.
I therefore deplore such treatment inflicted on the Falun Gong people and I urge that their human rights will be respected in Iceland in the future.

Yours sincerely,