August 13

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Followers and supporters of the Falun Gong spiritual movement on Monday stepped up their appeal to free Teng Chunyan, a U.S. resident whose imprisonment has been raised with Beijing by the Bush administration.

Teng, a New York-based doctor who practiced and taught traditional Chinese medicine, was convicted in China last year of passing state secrets to foreigners and sentenced to three years in a labor camp.

Although China says she was imprisoned for spying, rights activists say she was targeted because of her participation in the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement.

"We are calling on the government of the United States of America to demand of China's leadership Dr. Teng's safe return,'' Alan Adler, the executive director of Friends of Falun Gong, said at a news conference in New York.

Adler said Teng, a faculty member at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in New York, had been abused and tortured in custody, adding that her incarceration was "outrageous.''

Chinese consulate officials in New York were not immediately available for comment

Teng, who also taught at the New York College for Wholistic Health, is one of several U.S.-linked academics detained in China whose cases have been raised by Washington with Beijing. Over the past several weeks, three of the detainees have been released.

[...]

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20010813/pl/china_usa_falun_dc_1.html

Posting date: 8/15/2001
Original article date: 8/13/2001
Category: News & Media Reports

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