Persecution against European Residents – Part 1 (Chinese National in Ireland)

During his stay in Beijing, Mr. Liu tried to hand in a letter of appeal to the Chinese Premier concerning the persecution of Falun Gong. He was arrested and after a couple of week’s detention, he was placed under house arrest.

Police arrested Ms Yang on 19th December 1999, when staying in a friend's home in Beijing with three other Falun Gong practitioners from the UK. The British practitioners were deported after a couple of days' detention, but Ms Yang was sent back to her home town in Liaoning Province, where she was detained for forty days before being bailed out by her family.

Both Feng and Fang’s passports were confiscated, leaving them unable to come back to Ireland to continue their studies.

In June 2002, both students obtained new passports and Irish visa’s, in an attempt to return to Ireland to resume their studies. However, Mr. Liu was arrested when he returned home to see his parents before collecting his visa. Recent news indicates that he has been jailed, however no concrete details are available.

Ms. Yang was stopped from boarding a plane, to Ireland, at Beijing airport on the 18th June, 2002. The local police escorted her back to her hometown. She was then detained and questioned for a day at the Shenyang city police station.

After staging a hunger strike to protest her illegal detention, she was permitted to return home. Her passport has been confiscated again.

The embassy official told Ms. Dai to call back in a few days, after which the embassy stated that they would not renew her passport. After questioning the staff as to why her passport was not going to be renewed, they replied; “you know yourself”.

After another two weeks, Ms. Dai again called the Embassy for a letter of proof to show that her passport application was refused. Again the embassy asked her to call again in a few days. After approximately a week, the embassy told her that they would not give her a letter or anything similar. The staff member also said that she “broke the law in China”. After Ms. Dai replied that she wasn’t in China, but in Ireland, the staff member commented “you practised Falun Gong after the [Chinese] government banned it and therefore you broke the law”. After Ms. Dai recapped on what was said on the phone, he agreed and then hung up.

Ms. Dai again called the Chinese embassy on 27th February 2001 to discuss her passport renewal. The embassy made three points to her.

1. Falun Gong is [Chinese governments slanderous term omitted] and she was breaking the law by practising, wherever she practised.


2. To obtain a passport, Ms. Dai would have to denounce Falun Gong


3. They would renew her passport when she stop practising Falun Gong

On that occasion, and several others, Ms. Dai clarified the truth to the embassy officials.

After reading the report, an official instructed Mr. Zhao to enter a room that contained a large number of people. Mr. Zhao ascertained that these people were also Falun Gong practitioners who had come to appeal. While waiting, Mr. Zhao practised the Falun Gong exercise, and was struck by a police officer for doing so.

Mr. Zhao was arrested and a policeman from Changchun (Mr. Zhao’s home town), took him to the Beijing Office of the Changchun local authorities. He was told that he would be returned to Changchun if he did not sign a document stating that he would not appeal again. After refusing to sign, Mr. Zhao was taken to Changchun city the following day in handcuffs.

His passport was confiscated, but Mr. Zhao was later released without charge. Without a passport, Ming could not return to Ireland to continue his studies.

In March 2000, Mr. Zhao returned to Beijing, and while visiting friends in the Academy of Science, was arrested by plainclothes police officers and taken to a police station and later a detention centre when the police verified that he was a Falun Gong practitioner. To protest his illegal detention, Mr. Zhao began a hunger strike and was force-fed by police on four or five occasions. On two occasions, inmates, who were instructed by guards, also force-fed Mr. Zhao. They forced liquid down Mr. Zhao’s throat, causing some to enter into his lungs. Eventually, an intravenous drip was forcibly inserted into him while he was strapped to a bed.

After being detained in several other places, Mr. Zhao was eventually moved to Tuanhe labour camp in Beijing. During the transition between the detention centre and Tuanhe labour camp, he was force-fed several times, as well as subjected to electric shocks from electric batons. Another form of punishment was to force detainees to spend all waking hours with heads in a bowed position. The guards also continued to attempt to have detainees denounce Falun Gong.

At Tuanhe, the guards forced Mr. Zhao and the other Falun Gong practitioner to listen and watch anti-Falun Gong propaganda. They were also instructed to write essays defaming Falun Gong.

The treatment at Tuanhe was very vicious. As Mr. Zhao recalled, on one occasion “I was subjected to a very severe beating during the first month in the labour camp by 10 inmates, who later told me they had done this on the instructions of the guards. I was kicked and punched on my thighs and body. My thighs were afterwards black with bruises and I was unable to walk for 2 weeks... On some occasions I was not allowed to sleep at all and on other occasions I was allowed to sleep for only 2 or 3 hours per night. On occasions I was subjected to torture by electric shock.”

In total, Mr. Zhao spent almost 1 and a half years in Tuanhe labour camp. He was released after widespread support from the Irish government and international community.