(Clearwisdom.net) Radio Free Asia has reported that the Falun Gong Association held a press conference on Capitol Hill on Thursday, September 29 to express gratitude to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the U.S. Government and Congress, and several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for their help in rescuing Ms. Li Weixun. She arrived in the U.S. from Thailand.
Ms. Li was an employee of the Shenyang Heavy Machinery Group Company in Liaoning Province, China. She had been persecuted since July 1999 for persisting in her practice of Falun Gong. She left China in August 2002 and stayed in Thailand for three years, and with the help of the UNHCR, the U.S. State Department, Congress and some NGOs, she arrived in the U.S. on September 21. She attended a training session for relocated refugees and immigrants on September 23.
At the press conference, Ms. Li said that she was imprisoned and tortured four times in China for appealing for justice for Falun Gong and for clarifying the truth.
Ms. Li said, "During the last imprisonment on January 13, 2002, I suffered greatly from the police's tortures. I could not move, speak or eat. Near the end, I was at my last gasp. Through the rescue efforts of my friends and relatives, I was released on bail for treatment at the No. One Hospital of China Medical University."
Ms. Li described the harassment that she and her family suffered: "The Police Substation often dispatched personnel to harass my family, especially on holidays and 'politically sensitive days'. My mother-in-law was told, 'Your daughter-in-law practices Falun Gong, so you are a family of counter-revolutionaries.' She was very scared. They also went to my son's school, where my son was being watched. For several years, he could not say "Mom" on the phone. In this way, my family was broken up."
She said that after she fled China, her family was also persecuted. Ms. Li said, "In October 2002, my brother, sister, my sister-in-law's two sisters and their husbands were arrested. My brother was unlawfully sentenced to an 8-year term of imprisonment. He is still imprisoned."
Ms. Li expressed gratitude to the U.S. Congress and human rights organizations for rescuing her. She said, "The U.S. Government accepted me and other practitioners and provided basic life support. This is encouraging and good news for the righteous forces, the victims and people under control of the communist regime."
She said that many practitioners are being persecuted in China. She called on people to pay attention to the plight of the practitioners. Ms. Li said, "I believe that more and more countries and people will awaken and won't be seduced or deceived by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They will act on their conscience to help stop the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong."
A spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Association of Washington, DC, Assistant Professor Liu Ningping at American University, stated that The Epoch Times publishing the Nine Commentaries on Communist Party was not politically motivated, but was to let people know the facts. In this way, the persecution of Falun Gong will be ended.
Mr. Liu said that the deaths of 2,741 practitioners, most as a result of torture, have been documented and that the actual number is much higher.
The above is based on the interview by Lin Ping, RFA correspondent.
