Belgium: Friends Appeal for the Rescue of Falun Gong Practitioner Xu Na (Photos)

(Clearwisdom.net) In March of this year, Belgian Marianne Lefebvre learned that her good friend, Beijing Falun Gong practitioner Yu Zhou, had been killed by the Chinese Communist authorities and his wife Xu Na had been illegally detained. Marianne has been appealing to all sectors to help rescue Xu Na and has launched a petition that has so far collected more than 900 signatures of support. Belgium's Green Party Senator Juliette Boulet has addressed Xu Na's case in Parliament and has written a letter to the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs for help to secure the unconditional release of Xu Na and to ensure her safety.

As early as 1984, Marianne and her family were working and living in Chongqing. Marianne taught French at Chongqing University before returning to Belgium. In 1990, she returned to China and worked in Beijing. During that period, she got to know Yu Zhou and Xu Na, who both spoke French fluently.

During the time they were living and working in Beijing, Marianne and her family received selfless help and care from Yu Zhou and Xu Na. Once, in order to help her to complete adoption procedures for her daughter in China, Yu Zhou traveled more than 2,000 kilometers by train to and from different departments. Later, when Marianne and her family went back to Belgium, they still kept regular contact with Yu Zhou and Xu Na, and sometimes Marianne traveled to China to stay with them. Now she still keeps a lot of photos of that time and enjoys many happy memories. For her, Yu Zhou is like her brother and Xu Na her sister.

It was in 2001 that she learned the news about Yu Zhou and Xu Na, when her daughter traveled to China and met Yu Zhou, who was just out of prison. They learned that Yu Zhou and Xu Na were persecuted because they practiced Falun Gong, and that Xu Na was imprisoned because she refused to give up her practice. From 2001 onwards, Marianne was not able to contact her friends. Earlier this year, she learned from the Clearwisdom website that Yu Zhou had been persecuted to death in Beijing and Xu Na was still being illegally detained and tortured. She was very sad, and very much wanted to learn more about her friends' situation.

Marianne immediately went into action to try to rescue Xu Na, who is still being detained and tortured. In order to rescue Xu Na, she met with the Belgian Ambassador of human rights, with members of the European Parliament, members of the Belgian Parliament, and Luxembourg provincial officials. Two months ago, she launched a rescue petition, in the hopes that Xu Na could be freed as soon as possible. In a very short period of time, she has gathered nearly a thousand signatures. Her petition letter can be viewed at the following website: http://www.lapetition.be/en-ligne/sauvons-xu-na-2175.html

Source: http://clearharmony.net/articles/200806/45043.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/6/26/180954.html

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