For Immediate Release

Tuesday, February 26, 2002

OTTAWA: The following is the text of a statement released by M.P. Irwin Cotler, International Legal Counsel to JinYu Li, on the occasion of the arrival in Canada of her husband ShenLi Lin from prison in China.

We are all delighted with ShenLi Lin's release and reunification with his wife JinYu Li in Canada.

But this delight is tempered by the realization that ShenLi Lin should never have been arrested to begin with; that he should never have been imprisoned, held incommunicado, and subjected to coercive interrogation for over two years; and JinYu Li should never have been deprived of the companionship and the shared life with her husband.

We would be remiss if we did not make mention of, and indeed sound the alarm about, the dramatic increase in the persecution of the Falun Gong, including, the increase in the rate of arrest and detention; the increase of deaths of Falun Gong in detention; the pervasive torture of Falun Gong detainees; and the use of atrocity propaganda to demonize them in the eyes of their fellow citizens.

We call upon the Chinese authorities to:

• Repeal the illegal ban on the Falun Gong;
• Rescind any laws or regulations specifically criminalizing the Falun Gong as an "illegal association," and prohibiting thereby the exercise of the fundamental freedoms of their members;
• Cease and desist from any policy or practice of torture or other degrading punishment or treatment of prisoners in detention; and,
• Release all Falun Gong members now detained in prison, forced labour camps, or psychiatric detention.

Attached is a Legal Memorandum outlining the "criminalization of innocence" in ShenLi Lin's imprisonment. It is a case study of the plight of the Falun Gong in China today.

For further information, please contact:

Irwin Cotler, O.C., M.P. or Tanis Gilbert, EA