The Epoch Times: Eight New Jersey Congresspersons Write Rescue Letter to China

Epoch Times New York Staff
Nov 09, 2005

NEW YORK - Eight members of Congress from New Jersey have sent a letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao requesting that he release Falun Gong practitioners detained for their belief in the meditation practice.

The New Jersey congresspersons have a special interest in the practice since two women from New Jersey, Sarah Liang and Dan Sun, have relatives who were recently detained in China.

"We are particularly concerned with reports that several Falun Gong practitioners have recently been arrested and detained," reads the letter. The letter discusses how the four relatives had their possessions unrightfully taken away before being arrested and other blatant injustices surrounding their arrests.

"Liang Jinhui has not been charged with a crime, yet he is being held at the Luzhou Detention Center and has been denied the right for familial visits and the legal representation of a lawyer," reads the letter. "Furthermore, we are concerned that conditions in the detention center and labor camp will likely result in immeasurable damage to the health of the detainees."

Over 2,700 practitioners of Falun Gong have died as a direct result of the Chinese Communist Party's persecution of the practice. Falun Gong was banned by the Chinese Communist Party in 1999 after the peaceful meditation practice dramatically rose in popularity in China in the 1990s.

Eight other congresspersons from outside of New Jersey have also signed onto the letter, which was sent in late October. No reply has been received.