Epoch Times: U.S. Asia Foundation Employee Arrested For Practicing Falun Gong

Voice of America
Aug 01, 2006

On May 19, the Chinese Communist regime arrested Bu Dongwei a staff member of the Beijing office of the U.S. Asia Foundation and also a Falun Gong practitioner. According to a Falun Gong web site, Bu is now in Haidian detention center waiting for preliminary hearing. Bu's wife Lou Hongwei has written to the U.S. State Department asking for help.

Bu's wife Lou has come to the U.S. to ask for assistance from the State Department and Asia Foundation headquarters. In a letter to the State Department, she indicated that there has been no news of her husband since his arrest. Family visits are forbidden. Lou said that a national security brigade of the Beijing Haidian district public security bureau took Bu Dongwei away over two months ago.

According to reports on Falun Gong overseas website Minghui.net on July 25, Bu Dongwei is now in Beijing's Haidian detention center waiting for preliminary hearing.

Lou told a reporter in the VOA Chinese Division that she had visited the U.S. Labor Department and the State Department asking for help: "After I came to the U.S., I visited the Labor Department first because the case that Bu was responsible for was a joint effort between the U.S. Labor Department and the Chinese Labor Department. It was an effort to help farmers seek legal assistance. Subsequently I went to the State Department and met a lady in the Human Resources Department. She listened to my explanation of the situation."

A reporter from the Voice of America Chinese division called the Haidian District public security bureau on July 26, but they hung up the phone after learning that he was a reporter. The reporter then called the U.S. Asia Foundation Beijing office, where Bu worked. The person who answered the call told the reporter that he would have to ask their manager about this matter, but the manager had left for the day.

Lou's friend said that Bu was arrested because he was a Falun Gong practitioner. She said: "Mr. Bu works for the Beijing office of a U.S. international enterprise. He was arrested suddenly by the Chinese authorities over two months ago only because he was a Falun Gong practitioner."

Bu was once sentenced to one year in a labor camp in the year 2000 for practicing Falun Gong. In her letter to the U.S. State Department, Bu's wife indicated that in China, even the constitution is unable to protect anyone when it comes to Falun Gong. When a Falun Gong practitioner is arrested, there is no legal redress.

It was reported on Minghui.net that Beijing police suspected Bu of concealing a copy of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, but after searching his house, nothing was found. Police took away his computer and a few Falun Gong books in his house. According to unconfirmed sources Bu has already been sentenced to two years in labor camp but his family has not been notified.

The U.S. Asia Foundation is a non-governmental organization focusing on education, women and legal issues in China and has been working in China for more than 20 years. The executive vice president of the San Francisco headquarters of the Asia Foundation Barnett F. Baron told the Associated Press that the organization has not received any information from the Chinese authorities regarding Bu.

The VOA reporter has contacted the U.S. embassy in Beijing and the U.S. State Department, but has not heard back so far.

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