Good afternoon. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to tell the story of my Fiancée Yongjie Zhu, who is illegally imprisoned in China. She is an innocent victim of Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin’s cruel persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and the universal principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. The scale of persecution has been escalating since July 1999, resulting in over 660 deaths in the hands of the police, with hundreds illegally imprisoned and thousands incarcerated in forced labour camps.

Yongjie lost her job and was forced to leave home on the 29th of October 2002, several days before the 16th congress of the Chinese communist party. Chinese police frequently harass and arrest practitioners prior to major political events or anniversaries in China. She was arrested on the 4th of November last year on her way to the British Embassy in Beijing. She was secretly detained and sentenced to two years in Daxing County Female Labour Camp in Beijing. Her family were not notified about her whereabouts or her sentence until the 10th of February 2003 after I made many phone calls from the UK.

I promised Yongjie that I would marry her when I obtained my PhD degree. I was very shocked when I received news about her arrest a few days before my PhD Viva day.

I worry constantly about her safety. Every day I read about practitioners being subjected to severe physical, mental and sexual abuses and I dread to think what Yongjie might have suffered. She is a sweet-natured person who always thinks of others first and would never hurt anyone. She has not committed any wrongdoings and poses no danger to anyone. She does not belong in a labour camp that is meant for criminals. It is an insult to human dignity to put good people in those places.

Recently, UK practitioners have launched an international petition. We have gained great support from the public: more than 9,000 people signed our petition forms and over 1,000 people signed the online petition (see http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200302/10572.html). The Manchester Evening News, The Cambridge Evening News and BBC Radio have all interviewed me in support of Yongjie’s case.

I seek her immediate release. I won’t quit until she is free. I hope that the British people and Government can help to free my fiancée and all the imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Thanks you very much.

Dr. Weiguo Xie