Amnesty International: China: Conditional release of Kunlun Zhang raises serious concerns

11 January 2001

The release of Kunlun Zhang, a Chinese-born Canadian citizen from a labour camp where he was sentenced to three years for adhering to Falun Gong beliefs was welcomed today by Amnesty International Canada. But the conditions imposed were "totally unacceptable" says the human rights organization.

Kunlun Zhang has been allowed to leave the labour camp after the Chinese authorities say he has "indicated that he would distance himself and break away from the organization". China has been harassing, detaining or criminalizing citizens for peacefully exercising their basic human rights as members of Falun Gong since a crackdown began in July 1999. Zhang, who should never have been held, is now being released because he has allegedly renounced his beliefs. Zhang is reported to have said the Chinese government's statement is a "lie".

"This type of release has to absolute and unconditional" , says Alex Neve, the Secretary General of the English Branch of Amnesty International Canada. "Zhang's liberty is in jeopardy if he engages in any Falun Gong event in the future."

The terms of Zhang's release mirror the ongoing crackdown on Falun Gong members who have been harassed and detained. At least 77 Falun Gong followers are reported to have died in custody, or shortly after release, in suspicious circumstances since the crackdown began. In November 2000, Kunlun Zhang, was sentenced without trial to three years detention in a forced labour camp. Zhang who moved to Canada in 1989, acquired Canadian citizenship in 1995, but returned to China in 1996 to take care of an ailing relative and took up a job at Shandong Art University. Since July 2000, Zhang had been detained twice for his Falun Gong beliefs before being rearrested by police in his home in Jinan city, Shandong province on 15 November and sent to a labour camp.

Efforts by his daughter LingDi Zhang, a University of Ottawa student, actions by Members of Parliament, and pressure from the Canadian government may have contributed to Zhang's release in advance of the Team Canada trade mission to China in February.

"Recent history has however shown the Chinese often cynically try to deal with individual cases that are 'irritants' in advance of trade missions", notes Neve. "Canada must not be deflected by the conditional release of one prisoner. It must press the Chinese to stop the continuing crackdown on all Falun Gong practitioners, and other dissidents and respect human rights throughout the country."

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