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Radio Free Asia Special Report: Chinese Falun Gong Practitioners from 17 Countries Jointly Publish Open Letter
(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioners of Chinese nationality who
currently live in Canada, Japan and other 15 countries recently published an
open letter calling on people to pay attention to the issue that their passports
have been withheld or not renewed over the past few years. At the same time,
travel certificates of more than 30 Falun Gong practitioners from Hong Kong have
been either postponed or confiscated. The following is excerpted from a report
on June 21 by Radio Free Asia's Hong Kong correspondent Yan Ming. The Chinese Falun Gong practitioners expressed in their open letter that over
the past several years, when Falun Gong practitioners of Chinese nationality
sent requests to the Chinese Consulates in their country to apply for renewal of
their passport, these Consulates either withheld or refused to renew them. Practitioners from 17 countries including Canada, Japan, Italy, Switzerland,
Hungry and United Kingdom encountered this problem. On Monday, June 21, a reporter called Japan where this situation is
relatively serious, to learn about the issue. A practitioner with the last name
of Xiao said, "Because I had been back to China, I was deported to Japan
later. In the very beginning, if Falun Gong practitioners went back to China,
they would be refused. At present, if they go back to China, they will be
arrested. Some were barred from entering China when they went back. In addition,
previously, when I went to Hong Kong, I was deported back to Japan by the Hong
Kong authorities. I also experienced this. Besides, some practitioners are
unable to get their passports renewed. There are more than 100 of such cases.
This is only what we are aware of. There could be some cases that we don't know
about." The open letter claimed that when Chinese Consulates withhold or refuse
renewal or extension of practitioners' passports, they did not show any document
indicating the withholding of refusal, and they refused to provide any written
explanation or document. The practitioner from Japan said that the passport
issue has brought them significant problems. Ms. Xiao: There was one time, in the very beginning, when we were not allowed
to go abroad. Later, after a relatively long period of time, some practitioners
probably consulted the Japanese legal department about related policy, some of
them could get a kind of certificate that they can go abroad without being
affected by the passport issue. This situation has been going on for quite some
time. I can give a simple example. For instance, shortly before, some
practitioners' visas were about to expire, it would be very dangerous for them
to go back to China. Therefore, some of them applied for refugee statues. Cosigners of the open letter believe that according to related Chinese
regulations and laws, only the public security department and the institution
which issued the passport have the authority to suspend or invalidate the
passport. Only procuratorate and court have the authority to withhold
identification cards. The Chinese Consulates' behavior violates the law. In the meantime, in this open letter to the Chinese State Council, the Public
Security Ministry, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Procuratorate, the
cosigners believe that a person's nationality is a fundamental human right. Any
individual, organization or government that randomly deprives a person of his or
her nationality violates the "United Nations Declaration of Human
Rights" In addition, in Hong Kong, some Falun Gong practitioners' travel certificates
were also confiscated or withheld. As a consequence, they are unable to go back
to Mainland China. Hong Kong Falun Gong spokesperson Mr. Kan said that since
1999, about 30 to 40 practitioners, including spokesperson Mr. Chen Yongguang,
have been affected. Kan: "From our previous statistics, more than 30 Hong Kong
practitioners' travel certificates were confiscated under different situations.
Among them, some certificates were confiscated at customs. One of our contact
persons, Mr. Chen Yongguang, had his certificate confiscated during a business
trip to China. The above is an edited version of a report from Radio Free Asia correspondent
Yan Ming. Posting date: 6/23/2004 |