(Clearwisdom.net) The European Parliament Human Rights Branch Committee decided to hold a hearing on the human rights situation in China on November 26, 2007.
Falun Gong practitioners from China, Cao Dong, Niu Jinping and his wife Zhang Lianying, were invited to the hearing. On May 21, 2006, Niu Jinping and Cao Dong had met with the vice-President of the European Parliament, Mr. Edward McMillan-Scott in Beijing, and informed the Vice-President of the brutal persecution suffered by himself, his wife and other Falun Gong practitioners around him. Two hours after the meeting, Mr. Cao was arrested by Chinese Communist regime security agents and was charged with "accepting an illegal interview." Mr. Cao was sentenced to five years of imprisonment and has been secretly detained in the No. 3 Prison in Tianshui. During her imprisonment in the Beijing Women's Forced Labor Camp, Ms. Zhang was beaten mercilessly many times, hung up in the air, deprived of sleep and subjected to various mental tortures. On March 20, 2007, in the labor camp, Zhang Lianying was fiercely assaulted about the head while her neck was restrained with a rope. This torture resulting in massive hemorrhaging inside the skull and Ms. Zhang is now on the verge of death. Nonetheless, the labor camp authorities continue to completely cut off her contact with the outside world, and repeatedly refuse requests by her family to see her.
Chinese lawyers Gao Zhisheng and Li Heping, who have spoken out for Falun Gong, and other human right activists in China, were also invited. Mr. Gao Zhisheng has been collecting evidence related to the persecution of Falun Gong. The CCP police have harassed him for a long time. On September 20, 2007, Mr. Gao wrote to the U.S. Congress, calling for attention to the persecution. In the letter, Mr. Gao listed evidence of the persecution and how the CCP uses the Olympics to violate human rights. Two days later, Mr. Gao was taken away by the police. Contact with him has been lost since then.
The European Union is aware of the persecution, and it has been mentioned during every meeting between the EU and the CCP. On different occasions, the EU has asked the CCP to stop the persecution. The European Parliament passed a resolution to condemn the persecution on September 7, 2006, before the peak conference between the EU and China. The vice-President of the European Parliament, Mr. Edward McMillan-Scott, has made significant efforts to rescue Falun Gong practitioners and Mr. Gao Zhisheng. He has written to the leaders of the EU, asking them to take action. On September 26, 2007, he expressed to the representatives from China that the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and Mr. Gao is not acceptable. He said that he would exert more pressure until they are released.
The invitation of Falun Gong practitioners to the hearing shows that the European Parliament is concerned about the persecution and also shows their support for Falun Gong.
The hearing will be held right before the peak conference of the EU and China, which will be held on November 28.
