(Clearwisdom.net) As the 60th session of the UN Human
Rights Commission is about to convene in Geneva, San Francisco Bay Area Falun
Gong practitioners and members of "Friends of Charles Lee" rallied in front of
Chinese Consulate in San Francisco on March 11. They urged the U.S. Government
to condemn China for its persecution of Falun Gong during the annual meeting of
the UN Human Rights Commission and requested the Chinese Government to
immediately release U.S. citizen Charles Lee, who has been illegally detained in
China for more than a year.
During the rally, Dr. Sherry Zhang, Charles Lee's friend and a researcher at
Berkeley National Laboratory, said: "Investigations by international human
rights organizations have shown that since Jiang and his followers started to
persecute Falun Gong in 1999, hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners
have been detained in forced labor camps, prisons and mental hospitals, where
they have been subjected to beatings, shocks with electric batons, and
injections of dangerous drugs. More than 900 practitioners have been persecuted
to death. The human rights of Falun Gong practitioners have been severely
violated in China."
When talking about the plight of U.S. citizen Charles Lee, who was illegally
arrested and then detained, Sherry Zhang said: While detained in prison, Charles
has been beaten, continuously handcuffed for 130 hours, force fed and subjected
to brainwashing. Recently, officials from the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai said
that Charles had been forced to work gluing shoe soles between last December and
this past February. Charles told U.S. officials that the glue smelled terrible
and seemed to be toxic. Prolonged exposure to this kind of glue had made him
feel very sick. "
Sherry Zhang said that the U.S. has been a model of safeguarding human
rights. During the annual meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission, the Bush
administration should condemn the Chinese Government's persecution of Falun Gong
and request that China immediately release U.S. citizen Charles Lee.
U.S. attorney Dr. James Don also gave a speech at the press conference. He
said that he supports human rights, though he is not a Falun Gong practitioner.
He therefore is willing to be Charles' voluntary lawyer. He believes that it is
improper for the Chinese Government to arrest dissidents, and that he would
investigate the alleged abuses of Charles through the International Red Cross.
He believes that the U.S. Government should pressure the Chinese Government to
release Charles Lee.
Mr. Hui Lu works at the Water Bureau of San Francisco as an Engineer. He
said: "According to a report from the International Organization to Investigate
the Persecution of Falun Gong on November 7, 2003, many labor camps have forced
detained Falun Gong practitioners to make products with slave labor. For
example, 57-year-old Falun Gong practitioner Wan Guifu, who was detained in Lan
Zhou First Detention Center was forced to use his mouth and hands to peel a type
of melon seeds. Because he didn't finish his assignment, he was beaten to death
by inmates who were ordered to do so by detention center leader Lu Jun.
Regarding the recently passed resolution H. Res. 530 which requests the Bush
Administration to sponsor and aggressively pursue a resolution condemning China
for its Human Rights abuses during the 60th session of the UN Human
Rights Commission, a practitioner said the resolution points out that China's
human rights record not only didn't improve. but actually got worse during the
last year, even though the Bush Administration and the Chinese authorities had
signed an agreement to improve human rights. The congress thus requested the
Bush Administration to sponsor a resolution condemning China and requesting it
to actually improve its human rights record. There are 81 charges against the
Chinese Government in the resolution, including its refusal to allow the freedom
of speech, belief and assembly, which are widely recognized by the international
community, and its continual persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
"During this annual meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission," the
practitioner said, "we are calling on the Bush Administration to condemn China
for its human rights abuses and requesting that China end the persecution of
Falun Gong."
Release Charles Lee now
Dr. Sherry Zhang giving a speech during the press
conference
Attorney James Don addressing media
Chinese version available at
http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/3/12/69781.html