The Times: A cold shoulder for Falun Gong

Friday, June 14, 2002

HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP - Jenny Qin is a Falun Gong practitioner. And for that, quite to her surprise, she has been banned from vacationing in Iceland.

The township resident was stopped at the ticket counter at JFK International Airport by airline personnel Wednesday night as she was preparing to board a flight to Iceland with her husband and young sons.

Icelandic Air officials told the 39-year-old computer scientist that her family could board the plane but she would have to stay behind.

"They told me my entry into Iceland was a problem," Qin said during a phone interview from home yesterday. "They said I'd been blacklisted because I'm a Falun Gong practitioner."

The Icelandic government has barred all Falun Gong [practitioners] from entering the country during a four-day visit this week by China's President Jiang Zemin.

The move was taken to prevent members of the spiritual movement from disrupting the visit with protests.

Falun Gong is described by its practitioners as a traditional Chinese mind and body regimen that combines meditation, gentle exercise and moral teachings in an effort to create better, healthier people.

It has been banned in China since 1999, [...] That year, a Chinese government survey estimated between 70 million and 100 million people were practicing Falun Gong in China alone.

Qin said her trip was planned as a family vacation but that while she was there she had intended to speak her mind about Falun Gong.

"I can't say I planned to protest," she said. "That's a strong word. I wanted to let the Chinese president know he's wrong about Falun Gong and to tell him to stop persecuting Falun Gong [practitioners]. We're very peaceful people, and I wanted the people of Iceland to see that."

Qin's name, along with those of several others booked on her flight, appeared on a blacklist issued by Iceland's Ministry of Justice.

"I have no idea how my name got on the list," Qin said. "I've never been arrested or been part of any big protest."

Qin's friend Li Li, an outspoken Falun Gong [practitioner], said she couldn't figure it out either. The Newark resident had booked the flight with Qin's family. She, too, was denied a seat.

'I wasn't too surprised my name was on the list," she said. "I never can avoid speaking out at demonstrations. But I was totally surprised that Jenny's name was there."

Icelandic officials said the names of Falun Gong practitioners were gathered by Icelandic police with the help of police in other countries. Icelandic and Chinese officials denied allegations that the Chinese government provided a list of [practitioners].

Li, who teaches at a New Jersey university she declined to name, said no matter how the names were gathered, neither she nor Qin deserve to be banned from Iceland.

"I'm a scholar. She's a computer scientist. We're both law-abiding people," Li said. "I may be outspoken, but I've never done anything outside the law. I think it's very wrong for a democratic country to bow to a Chinese dictator like that."

But Icelandic officials said the ban was instituted for safety reasons.

[...]

Jiang's visit began Wednesday and will end Sunday.

Hundreds of foreign Falun Gong [practitioners] were expected in Iceland for the protest, and the government did not have the resources to control crowds and maintain order, said Gudni Bragason, deputy chief of mission of the Embassy of Iceland in Washington, D.C.

"Our police force is unarmed and not trained to deal with mass demonstrations, and that's what Falun Gong members planned," Bragason said. On Tuesday, about 70 Falun Gong members had arrived in Iceland, including U.S., Canadian and Australian citizens. They were held in custody until the group signed an agreement to comply with police instructions on where they could protest.

On Wednesday, the Icelandic government decided to bar any other members from entering the country until after Jiang's visit.

"We recognize Falun Gong as a peaceful movement, and Iceland has a respect for human rights, but due to the special circumstances and the numbers of people expected, we were forced to take these measures," Bragason said.

Qin and Li insisted that any demonstrations they would have joined would have been peaceful ones.

But Bragason said Iceland's police force, few in number, would have been overwhelmed by the crowds.

[...] Back home in Hopewell, Qin said she has no way of getting in touch with her husband and sons, ages 9 and 5.

"The last time I saw my kids they were crying and we were trying to convince the airline to let me on the plane. It's a human rights violation to separate a mother and her kids," she said. "This was supposed to be a family trip.

"My oldest son did a lot of research on the computer. There were so many places he wanted to see in Iceland. I'm not going to be able to do that with him."

Qin said she hasn't even begun to think about who will pay for the $829 round-trip ticket she can't use.

"Right now I'm worried that I can't get into the country," she said. "I'm going to go to the airport and try again."

Rep. Chris Smith, R-Washington Township, co-chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation In Europe, has written a letter to David Oddsson, prime minister of Iceland, urging him to lift the ban and issue refunds for tickets whose departure time has passed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.