Letter of Appeal from Ms. Jinyu Li

May 31, 2001

I once again call on all Canadians to help me and ask the Chinese government to release my husband, Shenli Lin, and all my other relatives from police custody.

My husband has been jailed 15 months up to now simply because he is a student of Falun Gong. Recently, his brother, Mingli Lin, was also sent to a forced labor camp for 2 years for practicing Falun Gong.

What is wrong with people taking up an exercise that improves their health? Actually my whole family practices Falun Gong. We have all benefited tremendously from this practice. Because of Falun Gong, all my diseases were cured. Also because of Falun Gong, I met my husband and eventually married him. After starting the practice, my mother-in-law, who is now over 80 years old, regained her health and even grew black hair again. In addition, Falun Gong salvaged my brother's marriage, now he gets along perfectly well with his wife. My husband and his brother have been studying all kinds of Taoist Qigong practices since their childhood. From their personal experience they knew Falun Gong is a very high-level cultivation system. There has never been a better kind in history. At a time when people stress material wealth much more than morality, Falun Gong reverses the trend and encourages people to follow the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance". As a result, millions of families, including ours, have improved themselves and became better, kinder and more tolerant.

After July 22 of 1999, my family, like millions of other families in China, has been going through brutal persecution because of the government's decision to crackdown on Falun Gong. My husband and I went to Beijing on December 22, 1999 to appeal to the government. We just wanted to tell the government the truth and hoped that they would stop mistreating Falun Gong. However, because of that, I was deported within 48 hours back to Canada, and my husband was immediately jailed. One month later, he was transferred to a labor camp. From then on, my other 4 relatives were imprisoned for a total of 11 times for continuing with their practice. My husband's brother, Mingli, was arrested on the eve of the Chinese New Year. They incarcerated him and wanted to force him to give up his cultivation. He once staged a 3-day hunger strike to protest the groundless arrest. For more than 3 months, there was a policeman supervising him 24 hours a day. This did not work and Mingli adhered to his beliefs. On April 19, he was released. But he only got to stay at home for 4 days. On April 24, he was arrested again. One month later, on May 25, the police told his wife that he was sent to a labor camp for 2 years.

In China's labor camps, the cruelest and degrading punishment of all times have been used on Falun Gong practitioners. I worried so much about my husband, but the Chinese Embassy did not even allow me to go visit him. My relatives in China begged everyone in power to allow them to visit my husband, but each and every time their request was turned down. My husband has endured great suffering during these 15 months in prison.

As long as China continues its brutal actions, millions of families will never have a normal life. All that we are pursuing is the right to be an honest and upright person.

I call on all kind-hearted people to help me, free my husband out of jail, free all Falun Gong practitioners from prisons. They are innocent. They deserve freedom.