Request for Urgent Intervention

Your Excellency,

As Falun Gong practitioners in Israel, we are writing to draw your attention to the arrest, without explanation, in Bangkok of a European Falun Gong practitioner, Mrs. Pirjo Svensson. We hope that you can urgently contact the relevant authorities in Thailand to seek her immediate release.

The arrest and planned deportation of Mrs. Svensson is a violation of the fundamental human rights of a completely peaceful and law-abiding European citizen. Mrs. Svensson has not breached any law during her current or previous stay in Thailand.

Mrs. Pirjo Svensson was accompanying her husband who is currently working in Bangkok, Thailand. On 29/4/03, six immigration/police officers searched her home and took away her Falun Gong books and materials. This is shocking as the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners are supposedly protected by the Thai constitution, which enshrines the freedom of belief and expression.

We are even more concerned that the arrest coincided with the official visit of the Chinese Premier to Bangkok. The Jiang regime appears to have exerted pressure on the Thai authorities during the Chinese official visit to suppress Falun Gong, which the authoritarian regime has viciously persecuted in the past four years because of fear of any independent popular groups.

Falun Gong is a peaceful spiritual practice for mind-body improvement that is welcomed by over 100 million people worldwide. It has been completely peaceful during the 11 years of its spread in the world and has remained peaceful even during the past nearly four years of brutal persecution by the Jiang regime.

The SARS epidemic has shown the world how little value the Jiang regime puts on human life and how much they want to protect their power. We hope that the Thai government will not believe the lies of the Jiang regime and will stand up for the freedom of belief of people throughout the world.

We respectfully urge you to pay immediate attention to the arrest and planned deportation of Mrs. Svensson and do everything possible to ensure the immediate restoration of her freedom, which will also be important for the international reputation of Thailand as a country that respects basic freedoms and human rights.

On behalf of Falun Gong practitioners in Israel –
Yours sincerely,