Amnesty International Announces Campaign to Secure the Release of Lizhi He, Prisoner of Conscience
China:
Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners Continues. Please help secure the
release of Lizhi He
Since the Falun Gong was banned by the Chinese government on 22 July 1999 as
"a threat to social and political stability", tens of thousands of
practitioners have been arbitrarily detained by police, some of them repeatedly
for short periods. Many of them are reported to have been tortured or
ill-treated in detention. Some practitioners have been detained in psychiatric
hospitals. More than 350 Falun Gong followers are reported to have died in
custody since the crackdown began. The number of practitioners who remain in
detention is believed to be in the thousands. Some of those detained have been
charged with crimes and sentenced after unfair trials, while others have been
sent to labour camps without trial. New arrests and detentions continue to be
reported every day.
Amnesty International is calling on the Chinese government to stop the mass
arbitrary detentions, unfair trials and other human rights violations resulting
from the crackdown on the Falun Gong and other groups branded by the government
as "heretical organizations". All the information available indicates
that the crackdown is politically motivated, with legislation being used
retroactively to convict people on politically-driven charges, and new
regulations introduced to further restrict fundamental freedoms.
For further information:
AI document ASA 17/011/2000, The crackdown on Falun Gong and other so-called
''heretical organizations''
AI document ASA 17/028/2001, Human Rights in China in 2001: A New Step
Backwards
APPEAL FOR LIZHI HE
The Canadian government had already issued the necessary papers for Mr. He
and Ms. Zhang to immigrate to Canada. After unsuccessful attempts to appeal for
her husband's release and under threat of detention herself, Ms. Zhang made the
difficult decision to travel to Canada alone.
Amnesty International considers Lizhi He to be a prisoner of conscience and
is calling for his unconditional release from prison.
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Please send courteously worded letters, faxes or emails to the addresses
below:
Expressing concern that Lizhi He, a senior civil engineer with the Chinese
government and a Falun Gong practitioner who had been accepted to come to Canada
as an immigrant, has been imprisoned in China in violation of his right to
freedom of belief.
Urging the Canadian government to press Chinese authorities for the immediate
and unconditional release of Lizhi He as a prisoner of conscience.
Expressing concern about reports that Lizhi He is suffering from kidney and
lung problems and requesting that the Prime Minister ask Chinese authorities to
ensure that Lizhi He receives appropriate medical care while in custody.
SEND APPEALS TO
The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien Prime Minister of Canada House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
FAX: (613) 941-6900 EMAIL: pm@pm.gc.ca
(Salutation: Dear Prime Minister)
The Honourable Bill Graham Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
FAX: (613) 947-4442 EMAIL: Graham.B@parl.gc.ca
COPIES TO
His Excellency Mei Ping Chinese Ambassador to Canada 515 St. Patrick Street Ottawa, Ontario K1N 5H3
FAX: (613) 789-1911
(Salutation: Your Excellency)
CASE BACKGROUND
In April 1999, in what is now considered to be a major turning point in
relations between the Chinese government and Falun Gong, several thousand Falun
Gong practitioners demonstrated peacefully outside Zhongnanhai, the Chinese
government compound in Beijing, for the necessary government recognition of
Falun Gong as a legitimate qigong practice. Many believe this incident to have
been key to the Chinese government's decision to ban the group a few months
later in July 1999.
In May 1999, shortly after the Zhongnanhai incident, the couple applied for
immigration to Canada. Their application was approved in June 1999 and their
immigration papers were received a year later on July 8, 2000.
On July 18 and 19, 2000, Lizhi He went to a post office in Beijing to do a
mass mailing of Falun Gong materials to friends and work colleagues. He was
apparently seen by the Security Bureau, photographed at the post office, and
arrested from his workplace a few days later on July 21, 2000. For an entire
month, Li Zhang was unable to find out where her husband was being held.
On November 14, 2000, Lizhi He was charged with the offence of using a
heretical organization to undermine the implementation of the law. He was tried
and sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison on December 5, 2000.
For the first six months of his detention, Lizhi He was held in the Haidian
Detention Centre in Beijing, where his wife was not allowed to visit with him.
On February 14, 2001, Lizhi He was transferred to Qianwei prison in the
Chadianzhan district of Tianjin City, and sometime in November 2001, to the
Qianjin prison in the same district, where he is still believed to be held.
Li Zhang last saw her husband in the medical wing of Qianwei prison on April
14, 2001. He had been coughing up blood and indicated that he was suffering from
kidney and lung problems.
Since the ban of Falun Gong in July 1999, both Lizhi He and Li Zhang had been
forced to undergo numerous re-education sessions by their workplace managers,
during which they were pressured to renounce their belief in Falun Gong. They
were told that they could lose their jobs, be sent to re-education camp, or even
face death. At one point, Li Zhang worked for three months without pay as
punishment.
Li Zhang herself was detained for short periods for attempting to appeal
peacefully to the authorities on behalf of the thousands of Falun Gong
practitioners who are reported to be currently in detention and the hundreds of
Falun Gong practitioners who are reported to have died while in custody -- the
first time, for going to the citizens' appeal office in Beijing, and the second
time, for stating publicly at Tiananmen Square that she was a Falun Gong
practitioner. Li Zhang decided to leave China at the beginning of May 2001,
using her Canadian immigration papers, after the authorities told her that she
was going to be sent to re-education camp. Under Chinese law, citizens can be
sent to re-education camp for up to 3 years without charge or trial.
When he was arrested, Lizhi He was working as a senior civil engineer with
the Construction Ministry, responsible for evaluating engineers' qualifications
for certification. For many years before that, he had worked at the same
government enterprise as his wife, Li Zhang, also a civil engineer - the Beijing
Central Engineering and Research Incorporation of the Iron and Steel Industry,
known as CERIS.
The case of Lizhi He is one of several which have been reported to Amnesty
International by Canadian relatives of Falun Gong practitioners detained in
China.
Lizhi
He and his wife Li Zhang took up the practice of Falun Gong in 1995.
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