The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

November 28, 2003

The day after Thanksgiving is a time usually devoted to family.

Not so for Smyrna resident Sam Lu, whose wife spent the holiday imprisoned in China for distributing fliers about Falun Gong, a spiritual movement the government [persecutes brutally].

Lu and about 1,000 other Falun Gong adherents from across North America spent Friday at a rally in Centennial Olympic Park, spreading the word that many are imprisoned in China for their spiritual beliefs.

Xuefei Lu, arrested for passing out Falun Gong fliers three years ago in China, completed her sentence at a labor camp last month, her husband said, but is still a prisoner for refusing to renounce her faith.

"She was to be released Nov. 15... the police say she violated regulations because she refused to attend the brainwashing classes," Sam Lu said Friday.

Shawn Lin of Duluth says he and his wife, Hua Du, were detained and questioned for hours when they visited their native country three years ago. Lin said their interrogators separated the couple and "tried to find out information about Falun Gong activity outside of China."

Other Falun Gong practitioners fare less well than the Lins.

This March, Charles Lee, an American linked to the spiritual movement, was sentenced to three years in prison in China after he was convicted of sabotaging broadcast facilities. A former medical researcher at a Boston hospital, Lee was arrested Jan. 22 as he walked off a plane in China.

"Americans need to be aware of the persecution that is still happening in China today, in the 21st century," said Lee's fiancée, Yeong Ching Foo, a resident of the San Francisco area who was in Atlanta on Friday for the rally.

Foo said Lee was imprisoned for attempting to "expose" the persecution of his compatriots.

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http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/1103/29falun.html