April 6, 2003

A CHINESE student is appealing for help from the government to persuade authorities in his homeland to free his imprisoned fiancee. Wei Guo, a student at UMIST, fears he will never see girlfriend Yong Gie again after she was arrested in Beijing as part of a crackdown on the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong.

The couple were hoping to marry in the UK as Wei Guo cannot return home because he too is a [practitioner]. Yong Gie, 29, is being detained somewhere in China but her family has had no contact since her arrest in November. The Chinese government banned Falun Gong in 1999[...]. The movement combines gentle exercise, meditation and teachings [of Mr. Li Hongzhi]. If convicted of promoting Falun Gong, Yong Gie faces 10-years in jail. Wei Guo, 30, says he was arrested twice because of his involvement with Falun Gong before coming to study in Manchester in 1999 [...]

He said: "My fiancee was arrested in Beijing on the 4 November and now I do not know where she is. Chinese security services went to see her parents, but would not say where she is. "My dream is that she can come to the UK and we can marry, but that is a long way away. I am hoping that the British government will put pressure on the Chinese government to free her."