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Geneva: Discrimination and Persecution of Falun Gong by Singapore Authorities Exposed at the UN Human Rights Council (Photo)

September 22, 2006 |   By a Falun Gong practitioner in Singapore

(Clearwisdom.net) The second session of the United Nations Human Rights Council was held in Geneva on September 18, 2006. The theme of the session was the annual reports presented by Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations. Yakin Erturk, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women presented her annual report on September 20. The written part of the annual report contains urgent appeals by Ms. Erturk and Special Rapporteur on "Freedom of Speech" and Working Group on "Arbitrary Detention" regarding the Singapore authorities' illegal detention of Singapore Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Ng Chye Huey and Ms. Cheng Lu Jin in April last year.

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Ms. Ng Chye Huey speaks at the UN Human Rights Council, exposing the Singapore authorities discriminating and persecuting Falun Gong practitioners

During the discussion session after the special rapporteur's report, Ms. Ng Chye Huey, who came from Singapore, made a speech, expressing her appreciation for the special rapporteur's help. In her speech, she briefly introduced the persecution she has been subjected to in Singapore. She said that the Singapore government discriminates and persecutes Falun Gong practitioners under the coercion of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). She was force-fed when she was on a protest hunger strike in the Singapore prison.

She also said that after the meeting, and when she returned to Singapore, she will face lawsuits on more charges trumped up against her. She hopes that the Singapore government will no longer do things against their conscience just to appease the CCP. Her speech exceeded the two-minute time limit, but the chairperson of the meeting did not stop her. She finished all that she had prepared to talk about. The whole audience was very quiet, listening to an ordinary woman telling of the persecution imposed upon her in Singapore.

Ms. Ng Chye Huey is a Singaporean Falun Gong practitioner. With an intention of speaking some fair words for Falun Gong in 2000, she wrote a letter to the Chinese Government, and took a plane to go to Beijing's Tiananmen Square in China. When she gave the letter to a police officer there, she was arrested, and all the money she brought with her was confiscated. She was then deported. During that time, she saw the police beat local Falun Gong practitioners. She made up her mind to let all Singapore people learn about the truth after she returned to Singapore. She has been persistently doing so during the past seven years.

Ms. Ng Chye Huey believed that Singapore was a free and democratic country, and never expected that the Singapore government would create all kinds of difficulties and even persecute her in order to curry favor with the CCP. In 2001, she was arrested and charged in court for participating in a candlelight vigil mourning Falun Gong practitioners who had died as a result of the persecution by the CCP in MacRitchie Park. The charge against her was "illegal assembly." In 2004, she was once again charged in court by the police for distributing materials informing the public about the brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China in Esplanade Park. The charge against her this time was "assembly without permit." She was then found guilty, but there were many serious loopholes in the evidence. She was immediately sent to prison after the verdict was announced. She held a hunger strike to protest the unfair treatment against her, and was tied to a metal bed to be force-fed. In July 2006, the police charged her in court again with four charges, including "harassment by displaying insulting writings" and "assembly without permit." The charge of "harassment by displaying insulting writings," was for meditating outside the Chinese Embassy in Singapore to protest the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, while displaying a banner behind her. The police came and arrested her. The writing on the banner that was claimed to be insulting said, "Hunger Strike on July 20 in Protest of the CCP's Inhuman Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners."

To prove that the content of the banner is factually correct, and not an insulting statement, the defense counsel provided with the court with the United Nations Human Rights Report, but the court refused to accept it. The lawyer appealed to the High Court, but was rejected. The lawyer then appealed to the Court of Appeals, and the hearing is scheduled for September 25.

Falun Gong practitioners' lawyer Mr. Ravi had planned to take part in the human rights report meetings to clarify the true situation of the Falun Gong lawsuits, so that the United Nations will learn that the Singapore legal system is extremely unjust. He also wanted to let the UN know that he himself has been under surveillance and threatened by the government. But on the morning when he was about to leave, the police unreasonably arrested him and sent him to a mental hospital. They attempted to stop him from continuing defending on behalf of Falun Gong with the excuse that he has mental problems. He was thereby unable to present himself at the United Nations meetings.

Ms. Ng Chye Huey hopes that through the UN human rights meetings, more countries will pay attention to the discrimination and persecution imposed upon Falun Gong practitioners in China and Singapore. Under pressure from public opinion of the international community, she hopes the Singapore government will withdraw all charges against Falun Gong practitioners as soon as possible, and resume Falun Gong practitioners' rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion enshrined in the Constitution.