Hornsby Advocate (Australia): Distraught Mother, Heartbroken

By Angela Saurine

Tears stream down 74-year-ole Fuyin Li's face as she recalls her daughter's plight.

It has been two years since she saw her 47-year-old daughter, who was placed in a labour camp in China for protesting against the government's crackdown on Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong.

The Chinese government banned the meditation practice in 1999.

Its followers claim it was banned because its peaceful principles were different to the Communist ideology.

Mrs. Li was recently told her daughter was transferred from a labour camp to a brainwashing unit.

A family friend who was released from a similar place claimed she was tortured daily and saw someone beaten to death.

"Every day I think about my daughter and I can't sleep very well," Mrs Li said through a translator from her Hornsby home.

"Sometimes at midnight I wake up and worry about my daughter's life."

Mrs Li's daughter began practicing Falun Dafa in 1994 and found it eased her health problems.

She was arrest four times in Beijing for speaking out for Falun Dafa.

The last time, Mrs Li was arrested alongside her daughter but was released because of her age.

To avoid further persecution Mrs Li's son organized for his parents to come to Australia.

But Mr. Li, concerned about his shop back home, returned to China only to have his passport confiscated.

The couple had not been separated for 50 years, but Mrs Li has not seen him since.

"For the past 50 years I have looked after him and now he's by himself every day, he sits inside his house because the police come to harass him often," Mrs Li said.

"My other children can't live with him or visit him, they would get harassed as well."

There are 11 families in Australia who have relatives who have allegedly been persecuted by the Chinese Government for practicing Falun Dafa.

Frustrated with her inability to speak English, Mrs Li took part in a peaceful protest last year in which she walked from Sydney to Canberra to raise awareness of alleged injustices in China.

She walked 30km a day for 10 days, suffering aching muscles and blisters.

Mrs. Li and her family will send a petition to Prime Minister John Howard asking him to urge the Chinese government to release relatives of Australians being held for practicing Falun Gong.

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