Copenhagen, 2. March 2003
á
Rt. Hon. David Blunkett MP
Secretary of State for the Home Department
Home Office for the UK
Home Office Reference No L1053356
Dear Sir,
I am writing to you from Denmark in regard to a very urgent matter concerning Ms Lili Lin, a Falun Gong practitioner living in Liverpool. The reason why I am calling upon your help is because her life might be in great danger. Ms Lili Lin's case needs your immediate attention.
At this moment she is held in a deportation centre in Manchester Airport, waiting to be deported back to China. To send Ms Lin back to China is a huge mistake that will be very dangerous to her, and will also leave her husband behind in an awful situation.
Ms Lili Lin, 28-years-old, applied for asylum in Manchester in October 2001 on grounds of being a practitioner of Falun Gong. In April 2002, Lili Lin was married to Jinfei Zhang, a PhD student at Liverpool University, who is also a Falun Gong practitioner. She moved from Manchester to Liverpool to live with her husband, and informed the Home Office of her change of address. Her application for asylum was refused by the Home Office and her letter of refusal was sent to her old address. The reason given for refusing her application was that there are not many Falun Gong practitioners in Fujian province, where she come from. Because the letter was incorrectly addressed by the Home Office, she did not receive it until it was too late for her to appeal. She was listed for deportation on the 7th March. Through all this time, Ms Lin has been reporting to the Home Office in Liverpool regularly.
Furthermore, a medical examination at the deportation centre showed that Lili is six weeks pregnant. If she is deported, what will then happen to her unborn child? There are many cruel examples of female practitioners who have lost their babies or have been forced to abort as a result of the severe persecution.
This matter of Lili Lin is of great concern to us, and since there are only a few days left to act, I hope that you will look into this matter immediately. If she is deported to China, she could end up losing her life! This is how serious this case of Lili Lin is.
The Asylum Authorities claimed that Ms. Lili Lin could safely be deported back to the Fujian province in China and that she would not be in danger there. In contrast to this I can inform you of quite a few cases where Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death in Fujian province, why the province is not safe, and Ms. Lili Lin should not be deported back there.
Lili Lin is a practitioner of Falun Gong. She believes in Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. Even though her life might be in great danger, she does not attempt to flee, neither has she broken any laws or behaved in an inappropriate way. She is a good person, whose future at this moment is very uncertain.
As hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners in China who have lost their lives just because of their believe in Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance; as thousands who have been through unbearable pain and sufferings, horrific means of torture and death in "re-education" camps, this could be the reality for Ms Lili Lin, if she is to be deported back to China!
Please help rescue Lili Lin and prevent a tragedy from happening!
á
Yours Sincerely,
á
Ida Krog,
On behalf of the Association of Falun Gong in Denmark
cc: Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Tony Blair
Enclosure:
Reference A: Examples of death cases in Fujian province.
Reference B: The case of Wang Lixuan and her young baby's death.
á