Urgent issue:
Hong Kong resident sentenced to seven years prison in Burma, for unfurling a banner
Dear Anna Lindh,
As the Foreign Minister of Myanmar (Burma) is expected to attend the ASEAN-EU meeting in Brussels this week, we - The Nordic Association of Falun Gong – would like to kindly bring to your attention the case in Burma where 71 year old Mr Chan Wing Yuen from Hong Kong has been secretly sentenced to 7 years in prison, without legal representation, for merely unfolding a banner reading: “Truthfulness - Compassion - Forbearance”
Around New Year 2001-02, Mr Chan visited his family in Myanmar. During Jiang Zemin’s state visit to Burma he peacefully appealed by holding a small banner containing only three words: “Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance”. The police arrested him within seconds.
While in detention, officials from the Chinese Embassy supervised local Burmese police to repeatedly demand that Mr. Chan present a written promise to forsake practising Falun Gong, a demand commonly imposed on practitioners in China. In exchange for acting against his conscience, they offered him personal freedom. Mr. Chan refused. On January 31 2002, 71 year-old Mr. Chan was secretly sentenced to 7 years in prison
Hong Kong practitioners have continuously contacted the Myanmar Consulate in Hong Kong and the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar to ask for Mr. Chan's release. Chinese agencies and Myanmar officials exerted pressure on Mr. Chan's family members, which made the rescue difficult. After nearly one year's effort, the practitioners decided to publicise this severe incident of the Jiang's regime's illegal human rights violation overseas and expose it to the international community.
South East Asian countries, like Myanmar, have been particularly weak to pressure from the Chinese Regime. Last August, in nearby Cambodia, an old couple was kidnapped by Chinese Embassy agents and clandestinely taken to a labour camp in China
We kindly appeal to You, to bring this case forward at the meeting with the Foreign Minister of Myanmar, and to call for an immediate release of Mr Chan. The case is also in the process of being submitted to the United Nations and Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience, but we think that You as Foreign Minister can play an important role in the release of this innocent old man.
Yours Sincerely,
Nordic Association of Falun Gong
Chinese version available at
http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200301/16804.html
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