Illawarra Mercury (Australia): Bid to save sister

March 15, 2004

Meditating for mercy: Youlai Zhang plans to demonstrate in Canberra today to draw attention to the plight of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Picture: WAYNE VENABLES

THE photographs show a story that Yaping Zhang is too damaged to tell.

The first, taken just four years ago, shows an active mother, who had a good job cooking in a restaurant and earned money to care for her family.

The second, taken a few weeks ago, shows a gaunt faced woman with her hair - cut in prison style - turning grey. It is the face of a woman, too sick to work, with the mind of a child, who only recently was on the brink of death.

Ms Zhang is the sister of Youlai Zhang, who will travel today from Wollongong to Canberra to practise the art of Falun Gong in front of Parliament House. The morning meditation is designed to publicise the plight of practitioners in China, who have suffered harsh labour camp conditions since the Chinese government banned the practice in 1999.

"My sister used to have a very happy family. They all enjoyed life and are responsible in their jobs and kind to others," Dr Zhang, a University of Wollongong researcher, said.

"She cannot tell what happened to her in jail. Nobody knows what happened to her."

All Dr Zhang, 49, knows is that speaking to his 53-year-old sister - who cared for him as a child when their academic parents were banished to farms during the 1960s Cultural Revolution - is like speaking to a child.

She has served just a few weeks of a seven-year sentence imposed in 2001.

Authorities have twice freed her after hunger strikes because they were convinced she was about to die.

Now, she is back home with her parents in Shenyang City in the north-east of China but must return to jail in August to complete her sentence.

Dr Zhang is convinced that will kill her.

"If she is to go back to jail in August, it will be very, very terrible," he said, tears in his eyes. "Last time she went, it was just for one month and she nearly died.

"I feel I have a duty to her because she looked after me all those years ago."

Practitioners hope for action at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights which will convene in Geneva today, chaired by Australia's UN Ambassador Mike Smith.

In a six-week session, the commission will review its efforts to end human rights abuses around the world including religious intolerance torture and disappearances.

Source: http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/articles/2004/03/15/1079199127405.html