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Assistant Secretary of State Writes to Congressman, Stating Position Against Persecution
By a Falun Gong practitioner in Washington D.C.
(Clearwisdom.net) On November 5, 2008, Assistant Secretary of State for
Legislative Affairs Matthew A. Reynolds replied to Congressman Bob Filner's
letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in late September, regarding the
imprisonment of Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Ma Jinhua in Hefei, Anhui Province,
China. Mr. Reynolds showed concern and restated his position against the Chinese
Communist Party's persecution of Falun Gong. The following is Secretary Reynolds' letter: Dear Mr. Filner: Thank you for your inquiry of September 24 forwarding correspondence from
your constituent, Ms. Joanna (Maqiong) Wang, noting her concern about her
mother, Jinhua Ma, a Falun Gong practitioner who has been detained in China. We
have shared Ms. Wang's letter with our Embassy in Beijing to alert them of Ms.
Wang's concerns. We apologize for the delay in responding to your inquiry. We have raised our concerns over China's treatment of the Falun Gong
repeatedly with Chinese authorities both in Washington and in Beijing. In May,
Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor David J. Kramer and
Ambassador at large for International Religious Freedom John V. Hanford III
raised concerns related to treatment of Falun Gong with their Chinese
counterparts during the U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue in Beijing. The U.S.
Government has made clear on numerous occasions our strong opposition to the
detention or persecution of individuals solely for peaceful association and
assembly or for exercise of their religious or spiritual beliefs, including
members of the Falun Dafa or Falun Gong, as well as to China's designation of
the group as an "illegal cult." In November, 2006, the Secretary of
State designated China a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) under
the International Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of
religious freedom. China has received this designation every year it has been
made since 1999. We have documented our concerns in our annual country reports on human rights
practices and on international religious freedom. Our 2008 Annual Report on
International Religious Freedom was issued on September 19 and may be found on
the State Department website at www.state.gov. We will continue to raise our concerns about the harsh campaign against Falun
Gong with the Chinese Government through diplomatic channels and in public
statements. We hope this information is useful to you in responding to your constituent.
If we may be of further assistance in this or any other matter, please do not
hesitate to contact us. Sincerely, Matthew A. Reynolds Background Ms. Ma Jinhua is a fifty-six-year-old Falun Gong practitioner in Hefei, Anhui
Province. She planned to leave China on September 8, 2008, to visit her family
in the U.S. However, she was detained by the State Security Bureau of Hefei City
on September 4. During the week she was detained and interrogated, her family
wasn't informed of her location. On September 10, Ms. Ma's son was detained for
20 hours and interrogated. After being transferred and detained in Hefei Detention Center for two week,
Ms. Ma was sent to a forced labor camp on September 28 for a term of 12 months.
She is still imprisoned in the labor camp.
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