(Clearwisdom.net) American citizen and Falun Dafa practitioner Dr. Charles Li is being severely tortured and brainwashed inside a Chinese prison. Officials of the American Consulate in China recently passed this information to a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department's Consular Affairs Bureau. On the eve of the momentous meeting between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and U.S. President George Bush, there is much concern for this American citizen's detention in China for his practice of Falun Dafa.

According to Charles Li's fianc¨¦e, Ms. Yeong-Ching Foo, an official from the American Consulate in Shanghai told her in November that Charles Li had to be dragged to a three-hour daily brainwashing session. Shao Gong, an official of the Chinese State Security Bureau, had been harassing him every day as part of the brainwashing in a vain attempt to force Charles Li to say that he was guilty. Shao even threatened that by refusing his visits, Charles would be putting himself in danger.

On December 1, 2003, the American Consulate in Shanghai notified Ms. Yeong-Ching Foo by phone that the Chinese government had recently intensified the severity of Charles Li's brainwashing. The prison police installed two video cameras to monitor him, and instructed prisoners to rob him of his sixty pages of hand-written materials and destroy them. The police even requested that officials of the American Consulate ask Charles Li to confess to fabricated "crimes." Shao Gong, known to be a highly placed agent of Jiang and his regime, was noticed to have recently disappeared for a week. When he reappeared to conduct more brainwashing on Charles Li, it was obvious that he had received more training in brainwashing.

Ms. Yeong-Ching Foo said that the police had even pressured Charles' brother in an attempt to force Charles to reveal the names of people in America who were involved with efforts to rescue him.

Ms. Yeong-Ching Foo said Charles Li has made many requests to see the officials of the American Consulate, but they were all refused. On December 5, 2003, a journalist from Epoch Times telephone interviewed Mr. Stuart Patt, spokesperson for the Consular Affairs Bureau of the U.S. State Department.

Mr. Patt said that the newly assigned official of the American Consulate in Shanghai had notified the Nanjing Prison authorities that regardless of whether the prison normally allows it, he demanded to be notified of any request by Charles Li to communicate with the American Consulate.

Mr. Patt also noted that prisoners were still closely monitoring Charles Li, and that prison authorities still "ask" Charles Li to join their "study class," which the journalist noted was a euphemism for brainwashing to force Falun Dafa practitioners to give up their belief.

"Chinese prison is not a friendly place. As an American citizen, we do not want to see Charles Li receive any worse treatment," said Patt.

One specialist on China pointed out that forcing someone to give up their faith is the same as asking them to give up their conscience and their human dignity. Brainwashing is an inhuman mental torture, causing the victim worse pain and long-term effects than physical torture. Brainwashing is unacceptable to western democratic governments, legal systems and society.

The specialist also noted that the Chinese Communist Party is very focused on spiritual control. The persecution of Falun Dafa by Jiang has reinforced this dark side of Chinese society. In fact, cruel torture is routinely used to effect spiritual control, and it has been used to force Falun Dafa practitioners give up their faith and their freedom to practice the exercises.

From November 10, 2003 through November 12, the "Journey of Falun Dafa" photo exhibit at the State University of New York at Albany, sponsored by the Albany student chapter of Amnesty International, attracted much attention on campus. Many students expressed their support by signing their names to a poster about rescuing Charles Li.

On November 21, 2003, professors, students and alumni from various backgrounds at American University in Washington, D.C. joined Falun Dafa practitioners in a candle light vigil in their efforts to rescue their fellow practitioners detained in China, including American citizen, Dr. Charles Li.

David Kute, a U.C.L.A. honors student, and Hsin-ling Hsieh, a U.C.L.A. doctoral student, are also fighting for the release of Dr. Charles Li. David Kute had met fellow Californian Dr. Li prior to his detainment. Kute arranged a meeting with members of the U.S. Congress this past year, which led to the drafting a resolution in the House of Representatives condemning the oppression of Falun Gong practitioners.

These two UCLA students have used various methods to raise awareness for their cause. After presenting their case to the Undergraduate Students Association Council, a resolution was passed last week, endorsing the council's support for the practice of Falun Gong.

U.S. President George Bush has met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao when he visited Washington, and human rights issues in China are among the topics they discussed. American citizen Charles Li's detention in China for practicing Falun Dafa has generated worldwide concern.

Posting date: 12/14/2003
Original article date: 12/13/2003
Category: Eye Witness Accounts
Translated on 12/8/2003
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/12/6/61941.html

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