(Clearwisdom.net) On January 24, 2003, Falun Gong practitioners held a peaceful protest in front of the Myanmar Consulate in Washington, DC. as well as a press conference during which they requested to meet with the Myanmar ambassador. They protested the Jiang and Luo group's pressure on the Myanmar government to illegally arrest and sentence Falun Gong practitioner and Hong Kong citizen Chan Wing-yuen, who has been detained in Rangoon for one year already.

The practitioners gathered on 2300 S Street NW in front of the Myanmar Consulate in Washington D.C. The press conference was held at noon on January 24, 2003

On December 12, 2001, police in Myanmar arrested Chan Wing-yuen, a 71-year-old Hong Kong citizen, in the capital of Rangoon for unfurling a banner that read "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance." On January 31, 2002 he was secretly sentenced to a heavy term of seven years in prison without the presence of his attorney or family. Mr. Chan was visiting relatives in Myanmar and was translating the book Zhuan Falun [the main text for Falun Dafa cultivation]. After learning that Chinese head Jiang would visit Rangoon, he unfurled a small banner on a road leading to the airport. The police arrested Mr. Chan prior to Jiang's arrival.

Representatives from the Chinese Consulate in Myanmar and local police authorities demanded of Mr. Chan on several occasions to write a "guarantee statement" and promise to give up his belief in Falun Dafa, but Mr. Chan has steadfastly refused.

The Chinese authorities and Myanmar Consulate authorities in Hong Kong had both threatened Mr. Chan's family not to expose this incident.