Irish Falun Dafa Association

30 January, 2003

Mr. U Win Aung
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Union of Myanmar

Irish Falun Dafa practitioners are greatly concerned with an issue regarding your country. It is reported that a 71-year-old Falun Dafa practitioner, Chan Wing-yuen from Hong Kong has been illegally detained in a prison in Myanmar (Burma).

It is reported that this gentleman's crime was to hold a small yellow banner with the words "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" in the view of the Chairman of China Jiang Zemin when he visited Myanmar (Burma) in 2001. Is it true that for this crime, a peaceful appeal, this elderly gentleman was sentenced to seven years in jail, of which he has already served one year?

As stated by Amnesty International Jiang Zemin is a "human rights scoundrel". He has no regard for human rights and no respect for the people that he governs. Falun Dafa is an immensely popular practice in China. The principles of Truth, Compassion and Tolerance coupled with the simple exercises are practiced by as many as 100 million people. The founder of the practice does not charge people who learn Falun Dafa a penny, it is taught free of charge and the books are free on the Internet. It is welcomed in over 60 countries around the world, and has been honoured with more than 800 awards and recognitions in Asia, Europe, Australia, and North America. Yet Jiang Zemin due to his own greed and selfish desires slanders the practice and ruthlessly persecutes those who live by the principles of the practice.

We believe that it was under the pressure from Jiang Zemin that Mr. Chan Wing-yuen was imprisoned by the Myanmar police, which really represents a case of injustice to human rights and does harm to the international image of Myanmar. You might not be aware that Jiang Zemin is creating human rights atrocities, he has been charged in an American court with Genocide. This is not the first time the Jiang regime has tried to influence foreign states to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners. Iceland and Germany in the summer of 2002 where pressured into restricting the rights of Falun Dafa practitioners who wanted to peacefully appeal because Mr. Jiang threatened to cancel his state visit. These cases have been exposed in the media and it is becoming more difficult for Mr Jiang to bully foreign countries into committing human rights crimes. It is likely that in Belgium the Myanmar (Burma) foreign affairs official will be questioned on the current fate of Chan Wing-yuen, it is my sincere wish that Chan Wing-yuen had rejoined his family in Hong Kong by that time. The entire world is watching this issue very closely.

Gerald O'Connor

Director of Irish Falun Dafa Association