Case 5-6: Swiss Citizen's Entry into Hong Kong Refused

Country: Switzerland
Name: Daniel Ulrich, 29, male, Restaurant Attendant, Swiss;
Location and date of incident: Hong Kong, June 29, 2002
Description:

Mr. Ulrich had arranged to go to Hong Kong on the 29 July 2002. However, since his name appeared on a computer at passport control, he was detained and brought into an adjacent office. There is no visa needed for a Swiss citizen to travel to Hong Kong.

Mr. Ulrich was told that his detention was just routine. However, it became clear that the real reason was because he was a Falun Gong practitioner. He noted that all others in the office were also Falun Gong practitioners.

His plane tickets were first taken away and his baggage was brought to the office where he was detained. He was asked if there were any pointed objects in his bag or weapons. It became clear to him that he would not be permitted to enter Hong Kong because he had a small scissors for his nails.

He was questioned in English by a female police officer. The officer asked where he was to spend the night and other questions. Mr. Ulrich asked for the reason that he was being questioned, since it no longer seemed to be a routine check.

He received no answer and his bag was searched again. He was also not permitted to phone a friend in Hong Kong to inform them of the situation. Again no reason was given.

Mr. Ulrich's bag was searched for the third time after about two and half-hours.

He was permitted to contact the Swiss Embassy and was simultaneously told that he would not be allowed into Hong Kong for "security reasons". He was told that the authorities in Hong Kong were free to decide who they let in.

Mrs. Zimmermann at the Embassy informed Mr. Ulrich that he could not enter Hong Kong and asked if he was a practitioner of Falun Gong. She also stated that there was nothing she could do.

After 3 hours, he was escorted by five armed police officers and five other police officers to the next flight and expelled from Hong Kong.

Country: Germany
Name:
Min Ye, male, Chinese;
John Zhou, male, German;
Wang-Hemmelgarn Tie, female, Chinese;
Xiaohua Huang, female, Chinese;
Rong Chen, female, Chinese;
Cuiqing Niu, female, Chinese;
Juewen Zhang, male (child), Chinese;
Mingjia Dong, female, Chinese;
Jie Zhang, female, Chinese.

Location and date of incident: Frankfurt Airport, Germany; June 12, 2002.
Description:

All nine of these German residents were prevented from boarding their flight to Iceland.

The reason given by the Iceland Air was that Jiang was visiting Iceland.

Source: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200212/9149.html

Posting date: 12/31/2002
Original article date: 12/31/2002
Category: Eyewitness Accounts

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