Yahoo! Australia & NZ News: Detainee accuses Chinese officials of posing as DIMIA staff
Saturday June 11, 2005 A Falun Gong [practitioner] says
she is one of dozens of Chinese people seeking asylum in Australia that were
questioned by Chinese Government officials in May. Wang Shu Ling, whose request for
a temporary protection visa has been denied, has told ABC TV's Lateline program
that the Chinese officials claimed they were from Australia's Immigration
Department. "When I saw the way they
dressed, I feel they were from China, however they say that they work for the
Department of Immigration but I don't know what exactly they do for the
Department of Immigration and at that moment I was very frightened," she
said through a translator. Ms Wang, who was a doctor in
China, says she was presented what she describes as an amateurish-looking form
written in Chinese. She says she was told it was an
Australian Department of Indigenous Affairs document. Ms Wang says she was taken back
to her living quarters. The officials then returned, accompanied by a Villawood
guard. She says she was then locked in
a darkened room for six hours. "Then a detention centre
officer looking very seriously, asking me to go back, and told me that 'you
have to be kept in this small room'," she said. "Then I ask him, 'why did I
have to be kept in this small room?' He says, 'I don't know,' and then he left
the woman officer to translate, and she says, 'This is a decision of the
Department of Immigration'." 'Disturbing' claims Opposition immigration spokesman
Laurie Ferguson says the woman's claims are disturbing. He says the Immigration
Department should monitor the activities of officials from other countries more
closely when they question detainees. "One would like to know
what authority this official had," said. "My understanding is this
woman is extremely articulate, she knows what she's saying, she's clearly aware
of the events. "To have somebody from
another country giving the reason for why you are detained inside one of our
facilities is incredible." [...] Falun Gong [practitioners] are
making the most of the spotlight the defection of Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin
has shone on their cause. The group's supporters have
filed legal action in the ACT Supreme Court against the Foreign Minister,
Alexander Downer. They claim he is responsible for
a ban on their protests near the Chinese Embassy.
Yearly Archive
Printer Version
feedback@clearwisdom.net