Statement from Practitioner Visiting the UK who Recently was Unjustly Prosecuted in Hong Kong

Wednesday, September 4, 2002

My name is Wong Yiu Hing. I am a resident in Hong Kong. I am also a Falun Gong practitioner. My son who is 9 years old and holds a British Passport and I came here to ask the UK and the kind British people to help us. Below is my story and reasons why I came to the UK.

On 20th July 1999, Jiang Zemin did not care about 100 million peoples' belief in Falun Gong and started his brutal persecution. Falun Gong has made 100 million people become healthy and happy. People all consider the persecution as a mistake because it is against right to an individual's freedom of belief as protected by the Chinese constitution. Therefore, many Falun Gong practitioners have tried to let the Government know the true facts and hope this mistake can be corrected.

In October 1999, my mother, my two sisters and I, together with my son and my sisters' sons, went to Beijing to appeal. We unfurled a banner reading, "Falun Dafa is good". However, the police forcefully took away the banner and arrested us. We were all sent to a detention center. They did not give us any food or drink. Later, my mother and sisters were all transferred to another detention center. I was deported to Hong Kong. Three children aged 9, 7 and 2 years old respectively, were looked after by other people. All of them wanted to see their mums every day but couldn't.

In March 2000, the persecution of Falun Gong became more cruel and furious. Jiang Zemin ignored Falun Gong practitioners' peaceful appeals and escalted the persecution. The number of deaths in police custody has increased continuously. We decided to carry on appeals for an end to this persecution that aims to destroy our human rights. We went to Beijing together with Australian and HK practitioners. However, before we arrived in Beijing we were arrested by the police. They immediately sent us to different detention centers. My son was also put in a detention center. Two days later, he was sent to my mother to be looked after. The police used all possible ways to force us to give up our belief. They know that we came from outside China; they tortured me without leaving any visible bruises, etc. They left me in isolation and confined for a few months in a small room that was exposed to wind and rain. The surrounding walls were very high. A dirty wooden board was to be used as a bed. When it rained the whole bed became wet, which made me unable to sleep. Often, I had to stand for the whole night. There were many mosquitoes and insects that bit and stung me. Because there was no one else whom I could talk to I was so lonely and depressed. I was suffering mentally.

They did not allow me have any mail correspondence. They did not let my family and friends know where I was. My family did not know whether I was still alive. Later, the police realized that isolating me by putting me into solitary confinement could not force me to give up my belief before they put me together with other prisoners. They encouraged other prisoners to beat and torture me. If they did so their terms in the detention center would be reduced by one year. In order to get out of the detention center as soon as possible, other prisoners beat me up. When I was on hunger strike to protest against this illegal detention, they force-fed me with water full of chili powder. Under the political directives of Jiang Zemin, they kept me and an Australian practitioner for 8 months.

Because we are overseas Chinese, the Chinese police persecuted us less than they tortured practitioners from China. Over 40 methods of torture have been applied to practitioners in China. It would be hard for people whose home countries respect human rights to imagine this. After I spent 8 months in a detention center, my ID had been taken away and I became a person on their "black list". I can never go back to China to visit my parents. However, I would never have thought that my 9-year-old son was also on the "black list"! In March this year, I sent my son on an airplane to China because I could not go to visit my parents who were not allowed to visit me either. My son was looked after by the airplane crew. When he tried to pass through customs, his name was found on the "blacklist". Staff at customs reported this to their supervisor who then reported to Beijing. Then they were ordered to send my son back to Hong Kong. They also forcefully searched his luggage. He was frightened and cried out for my parents who were waiting outside. After my parents learned about the situation they were in tears and asked to see their grandson but were refused. Four policemen took my son to a room to wait for a flight the next day to Hong Kong. Under the surveillance by four policemen, he was extremely frightened and dared not sleep for the entire night.

The next day police ordered my family to pay a double fare and my son was sent back to Hong Kong. After a few days' of comfort and care, my son eventually calmed down. People from countries where respect is given to women and children can hardly imagine all of these incidents. However, in China, thousands and thousands of families are suffering from this kind of persecution.

In March this year, four Swiss practitioners came to Hong Kong to make a peaceful appeal after their visas to Mainland had been rejected. On 14th March they and twelve Hong Kong practitioners, one with New Zealand citizenship, started a hunger strike in front of the Peoples' Republic of China Liaison Office, appealing for an end to Jiang Zemin's order to "shoot on sight" and "kill without pardon" Falun Gong practitioners in China. I was one of the twelve Hong Kong practitioners.

Shortly after the appeal began, however, a Liaison Office official made five phone calls to the Western Station Police, applying pressure to stop the appeal. The police responded, barricading the area and causing a complete obstruction of the pavement, and forcing pedestrians walk on the street. A few hours later, dozens of policemen began dragging us into police vans. Excessive force was used, such as strangling and applying painful pressure to sensitive acupuncture points. One of the policewomen pushed me on the ground. A few policewomen dragged me. Nine of us, including myself, were injured. Bruises were left on my legs and arms. My head was bleeding as well. After we were arrested, we were not allowed to see a doctor until 11pm.

We appealed peacefully by taking up 7 square meters out of 140 square meters on the pavement. However, the police, under pressure from the China Liaison Office, used force to arrest us and sued us for blocking the street, etc.

On the 15th of August, a shocking verdict was delivered and the Judge convicted Falun Gong practitioners of 7 charges. This has greatly upset the Hong Kong public who all know that their government has yielded to pressure from Jiang Zemin and caused damage to Hong Kong's Human Rights, legal system and "one country two systems" policy. We did not accept the verdict and made a further appeal.

I am a single mother. If our further appeal was turned down again, I would have been in prison. My son would have no adult to look after him because he could not go to China. Because of what we have experienced in China, we feel very strongly what has happened to us must not happen in Hong Kong. However, under pressure from Jiang Zemin, the democracy, freedom and Human Rights of Hong Kong have been damaged. The promise of the legal system to remain unchanged for 50 years has been broken: they have all changed only 5 years after the Handover. Therefore, I, together with another practitioner from Hong Kong, have come to the UK to appeal in person to the UK Government: Please help my family and the other 15 practitioners. Please help us for the sake of Hong Kong's future. Human Rights, proper legal system and freedom of speech must be maintained in HK.

Wong Yiu Hing
3 September 2002

Original article from: http://clearharmony.net/articles/6807.html