The Toronto Star: Canadian Falun Dafa follower tortured in China Lack of contact worries his daughter

STAFF REPORTER

Dec. 11, 2000

LingDi Zhang describes her father's predicament in a calm tone that denotes benevolence and peace.

She is almost serene when she recounts how her father was thrown in prison in China, how he is being held without trial, how he has been tortured repeatedly. She says she has no hatred for his captors because this "would only hurt my parents' love.''

LingDi, a University of Ottawa student, says she is able to maintain her composure because of her belief in the very practice for which her father, Kunlun Zhang, was jailed: Falun Dafa, a discipline comprised of a series of meditation exercises, which has gained popularity since it was introduced in China in 1992.

Both Kunlun Zhang, a Canadian citizen formerly of Montreal, and his wife Shu-mei were first arrested in Jinan, China, in July for practising Falun Dafa in a public park.

"They (Chinese police) forced them to write a pledge to renounce their practice, but they refused. That is why my father was tortured,'' LingDi said.

Kunlun was arrested again in October after going on a protest hunger strike while out of jail. He was released, LingDi said, because Chinese officials were worried he might die in jail from the continuing hunger strike.

According to the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, Kunlun was arrested a third time in November and his subsequent three-year sentence at the Liu Cheng Shan detention centre in November was punishment for his hunger strike.

LingDi's mother is currently under house arrest in China.

Yesterday, police seized at least two dozen Falun Dafa followers who unfurled banners and chanted slogans in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Defying tight security in and around the plaza, protesters emerged in twos or threes from the crowds to shout "Falun Dafa is not a crime'' and hold up bright yellow banners reading "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance'' - the group's stated principles.

Police quickly approached, ripping down banners and bundling protesters into vans, which sped away.

Kunlun is the first Canadian citizen to be arrested during the Chinese government's crackdown on Falun Dafa, which is seen as a threat to the state by Communist officials.

LingDi was in contact with her father up until the last arrest and says the silence worries her. "I don't know how he is being treated,'' she said.

About 150 people gathered in Toronto to meditate in a candlelight vigil outside the Chinese consulate on St. George St. last night.