(Clearwisdom.net)

March 14, 2003

Via Fax: +61 2 6273 4144
Minister of Immigration
Philip Ruddock MP
Suite MF 40
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Re: Jun Tao Wang and Li Luan Wang
Immigration File No: CLF 2001/40662
RRT File No: N02/45236
Client ID: 31527125190 (Mr. Wang) - 31736125190 (Mrs. Wang)

Dear Minister Ruddock,

I have noticed recently that a story is unfolding, which given the current course of events may result in the incarceration and deaths of a number of innocent people. I am referring to the Falun Gong practitioners Mr Jun Tao Wang and Mrs Li Luan Wang who are being held in the Villawood detention centre - awaiting deportation to China.

Over the past year I have come to know several Falun Gong practitioners. I have found them to be unusually kind, responsible and peace loving people. They follow their practice to improve their health and morality. To me they are the kind of people that should be welcomed by any country, as visitors or as members of society. This Tuesday, however, Mr and Mrs Wang were taken from the detention centre and put on a plane to be deported to China. Only a heart attack prevented them from being sent back. You may ask, "So why shouldn't they be sent back to China?"

I think to understand the ramifications of deporting Falun Gong practitioners to China, it is important to consider the situation that has developed in China over the last decade:

• In 1992 Falun Gong was first introduced to the Chinese public. Being a traditional qigong exercise practice with high moral requirements, it became popular and spread quickly.
• In 1998, the Chinese Government conducted a survey to find out how many people were practising Falun Gong. The survey showed that over 70 million people had started practising Falun Gong in less than 7 years.
• In July 1999 Chairman Jiang Zemin set up a group in the Bureau or Security known as the "6-10 Office" specifically to target the Falun Gong practice. The office was given orders to "defame them, destroy them financially and eliminate them physically"(1).
• The 6-10 Office was given authority over all areas of the government including judiciary, military, police, and municipal and regional governments.
• The 6-10 Office distributed orders to police and detention centres all over the nation such as that "there will be no punishment for torturing Falun Gong practitioners to death. Practitioners tortured to death will be recorded as suicide cases"(2); and to "shoot on sight" any Falun Gong practitioners seen handing out or posting Falun Gong fliers in China3.
• Since July 1999, more than an estimated 100,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been illegally detained, and over 20,000 have been sentenced up to 18 years "re-education through labour" camps without due process1.
• Falun Gong practitioners are physically abused, beaten and tortured in the labour camps. Over 500 practitioners have died in custody5, a figure that the Chinese government confirms as "suicide".
• Police have been ordered to "...not identify the body. Cremate locally." (2), thereby preventing family members from seeing evidence of abuse.

Mr and Mrs Wang have both directly experienced persecution because they practice Falun Gong. In 1999, Mr Wang was arrested at his home and sent to ChengMai detention centre in Hainan province. There he was asked to write a letter denouncing Falun Gong, and when he refused he was slapped in the face and told that they would not allow him to leave the centre until he died. He was tortured on the leg with an electric baton until he lost consciousness.

Mrs Wang went to the detention centre to appeal for her husband's release. She was also detained and beaten, being released eleven days later. Mr Wang was eventually released. After their release their personal ID was confiscated and they were required to report to a police station every day. They were not allowed to travel more than one kilometre from their home.

One month later, Mr Wang's brother-in-law was arrested and detained, and in March 2000 he died after returning home from the detention centre. Later that year Mr Wang's brother was sentenced to one year in a labour camp. In February 2001 a friend told Mr and Mrs Wang that the police were searching for them and planned to arrest them again. Mr and Mrs Wang hid at a relative's place and left for Australia again in April 2001.

If Mr and Mrs Wang were sent back to China, what would happen? Would they be allowed to live as free citizens? Or would they again be detained and subjected to brutal "re-education"? I think the second outcome is far more likely. If this happens, I feel we have failed to do our duty to protect those who cannot return to their own country, "owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion"(4).

I sincerely hope you can have the heart to listen and help Mr and Mrs Wang regain their freedom by supporting their application for asylum. I feel this is quite an urgent matter and hope you can help to expedite a positive outcome.

Yours Sincerely,
[name omitted]

References:
1. "State Terrorism in China" http://pkg2.minghui.org/dafa_baozhang/specials/ jianzheng/page_13_partBdescription.pdf
2. "Women of Conscience" http://www.faluninfo.net/610/
3. http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200203/3712.html
4. "1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees"
5. Summaries of confirmed deaths can be viewed at: http://media.minghui.org/gb/d-stats/province_en.htm

http://www.falunau.org/indexArticle.jsp?itemID=401