Member of Australia Parliament John Murphy Urges Government to Rescue Fiancée of Australia Citizen
(Clearwisdom.net)
The Hon Alexander Downer MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs
7 January 2003
Dear Minister,
Re: Ms Li Ying (d.o.b.) -- Request for diplomatic assistance
from Mr Cheezong LEE (Australian Citizen) to intervene in arrest and detention
of Ms Ying currently being held in Shanghai China at Qinsong Female Labour Camp
I am writing on behalf of Mr Cheezong Lee. Mr Lee is the
Fiance of Ms Ying. Mr Lee engaged Ms Li in January 2001. Ms Li is also an
off-shore 309 Spouse Visa applicant.
On 16 January 2001, Ms Li was convicted for the offence of
disrupting social order under the 1999 decision of Chinese Governments' Standing
Committee of the National People's Congress banning certain religious groups
held to be "[the Jiang regime's slanderous words]". The effect of this conviction is to deprive Ms Li
her right to attend her medical cheek in preparation for her migration to
Australia.
Attached please find a copy of the following documents:
I also attach a copy of the two texts:
Whilst the text of Dr Orban involves persecution of
Christians, the information contained in this text is equally applicable to any
adherent of non-approved religions in China and is included so as to give
similar fact case accounts of the application of the relevant Chinese Government
provisions demonstrating persecution of a prescribed kind that would bring the
Government's officially sanctioned persecution in conflict with its
international obligations at a signatory to various international instruments,
including:
For this reason, your intervention and inquiry with the
Chinese Government is sought concerning this case. In particular, your
assistance is sought regarding:
It is the experience of my term as the Member for Lowe that ,
with the high multicultural composition of this Electorate, I have received an
increasing number of complaints concerning the general degradation of human
rights in China over the last two years, particularly with respect to religious
freedom.
The two texts indicate there is an increase in violations of
religious freedom in China particularly over the last year.
I believe that this increase in violation of human rights in
China is either being ignored to otherwise denied by this Government and as a
consequence this denial is resulting in further acts of systemic and officially
sanctioned persecution by the Chinese Government against Chinese citizens on
grounds of their beliefs. This persecution is recorded by verifiable sources
such as the US Department of State as being broad based persecution of any
religious group considered to be a '[Jiang regime's slanderous word]'by the Chinese Government.
In particular, I quote from the US Department of State's
report at page four with respect to the Falun Gong practice:
'In 1999 the Standing Committee of the National People's
Congress Committee adopted a decision to ban all groups the Government
determined to be [Jiang regime's slanderous word], including the Falun Gong, under Article 300 of the
Criminal Law. The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's
Procuratorate also provided "explanation" on applying existing
criminal law to the Falun Gong. The law, as applied following these actions,
specifies prison terms of 3 to 7 years for "[Jiang regime's slanderous word]" members who
"disrupt public order" or distribute publications. Under the law,
[Jiang regime's slanderous word] leaders and recruiters may be sentenced to 7 years or more in prison'.
'During the period covered by this report, government
repression of the Falun Gong spiritual movement continued. There have been
thousands of cases of individuals receiving criminal, administrative and
extrajudicial punishment for engaging in Falun Gong practices, admitting
that they believed in Falun Gong, or simply refusing to criticize the
organization or its founder. The authorities and experts also wrote many
articles characterizing the rise of religious groups that failed to register
and [Jiang regime's slanderous word] such as Falun Gong as part of a plot to the west to undermine
Chinese authority.'
It is the time that the Australian Government gave public
recognition to the existence of the well documented and conclusive evidence that
the Falun Gong and other significant Christian and other religious practices are
being systematically persecuted under the provisions of the Chinese Criminal Law
in particular Article 300.
Ms Li's case is but one of thousands of examples of
demonstrated systematic persecution against people in China who are adherents of
certain non-approved religious practices which forms body of clear breaches of
the many United Nations international instruments that proscribe violations and
persecution against the person on grounds of religious and other freedoms.
In light of the overwhelming evidence now available from
authoritative sources such as the US Department of State, I call upon you to
investigate this particular matter with a view to the public interest of Mr Lee,
an Australian citizen who is the fianc?of a detainee in China.
The Chinese Criminal Law appears to operate without
Magistrates Rules equivalent or reference to the Rule of Law and natural
justice, in detaining Ms Li to a 're-education labour camp' without the most
basic human rights being afforded to her.
I urge you to assist in the release of Ms Li from the
re-education labour camp and thus permit her to continue with the processing of
her spouse visa application in the public interest of the Australian citizen
spouse visa sponsor.
I would also urge you to make appropriate diplomatic
approaches to have Australia recognize the existence of the magnitude and
widespread nature of persecution in China against all religious and the
abrogation of the rule of law and human rights in China.
Thank you for your assistance and I look forward to your
reply.
Yours sincerely
Robert Balzola (for)
John Murphy MP
Member of Lowe
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.cc/mh/articles/2003/1/18/43030.html
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