List of Articles
Blacklist Re-emerges in Hong Kong as American is Detained at SAR Airport and Forcefully Deported
"Tomorrow, if Jiang Zemin decides to go against Catholics or Jewish people, will Hong Kong and those nations who have utilized this blacklist begin persecuting them just because the Chinese President says so?" - US citizen detained in Hong Kong
NEW YORK, June 25, 2002 (Falun Dafa Information Center) - Sixty-eight year-old U.S. citizen and Falun Gong practitioner Dan Bihan was refused entry into Hong Kong on June 22. After being detained for eight hours, security guards wrapped her up in a canvas tarp, hoisted her onto their shoulders and carried her to a plane bound for New York.
Ms. Dan says she was ultimately headed to Malaysia to visit relatives. She was taking Guotai Airline from New York to Malaysia, and stopped in Hong Kong where she planned to spend several days before continuing on to Malaysia.
Ms. Dan had been to Hong Kong many times in the past, all without incident. On this occasion, however, after making a careful study of her passport, customs officials detained her immediately, citing "safety" as the reason.
"Clearly, I'm on some blacklist they are using to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from entering Hong Kong," says Ms. Dan. "They did this last year just before Chinese President Jiang Zemin visited Hong Kong. It is also something that European countries like Iceland and Lithuania did in the days leading up to visits by the Chinese President to those nations."
Just ten days before, Ms. Dan's flight to Iceland was cancelled by IcelandAir and she was barred from boarding the flight because her name appeared on a black list supplied to the airline by the Icelandic government in an apparent attempt to keep Falun Gong practitioners out of Iceland while the Chinese President was visiting the country.
On two occasions in 2000, Ms. Dan had attempted to return to her hometown in China. The first time, her visa was refused. The second time, she arrived in Chenzhen City in southern China before being deported by Chinese officials there. "At first I was on a black list that the Chinese government was using to keep Falun Gong practitioners from entering China," says Ms. Dan. "Now that list is being used outside of China to profile and discriminate against Falun Gong practitioners according to Jiang Zemin's wishes."
Ms. Dan concluded: "It's really frightening if you think about it... the Chinese President is exerting his influence on other nations to use a black list for profiling people and discriminating against people." "Tomorrow, if Jiang decides to go against Catholics or Jewish people, will Hong Kong and those nations who utilized such a list begin profiling and discriminating against Catholics or Jews just because the Chinese President says so?"
8 Hours of Detention in Hong Kong
"I was sitting on a chair and suddenly ten or more officers came into the room," says Ms. Dan. "I knew they were going to try to deport me, so I sat down and told them they had no right to do so. They then grabbed my legs and arms, and wrapped me up in a sticky canvas tarp." Ms. was then hoisted onto the shoulders of the officers and carried to a plane headed for the United States.
Before reaching the airplane, Ms. Dan reasoned with the officials. "I told them that 12 officers don't really have to worry about a 68-year-old woman running away," Ms. Dan says. The officers agreed and let her down to walk the remaining distance to the airplane.
Ms. Dan says that during her detention she was watched by two female officers throughout the eight hours she was held. Even when she went to the rest room, the two officers followed her. When she asked to see her friends in Hong Kong, the officers refused.
When asked why she was refused entry into Hong Kong, the Hong Kong officer would only say it was a matter of "safety." "We don't want you come," one officer added. "You cannot come."
"I don't understand...what threat a seventy year-old lady is to Hong Kong?" Ms. Dan asked. "Nobody in the office could answer that question," she said.
According to Ms. Dan, during her detention the officers clearly avoided discussing Falun Gong and refused to indicate if that was the real reason she was being held.
AP: Falun Gong says followers barred from entering for handover anniversary protest
By Helen Luk, Associated Press Writer Sunday Jun 30, 7:39 AM ET
HONG KONG -
[...], the Falun Gong meditation [group] complained that more than 90 practitioners were barred from entering the territory where they hoped to protest while Jiang attends Monday's ceremonies that also will include Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa being sworn in for a second five-year term.
"This is obviously suppressing dissident voices," said Law Yuk-kai, director of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, after he was manhandled by police at one of several demonstrations marking the anniversary of Hong Kong's return from Britain to China on July 1, 1997.[...]
One Falun Gong follower, Australian citizen Leon Wang, was detained at the Hong Kong airport Sunday and he told The Associated Press in a phone call he saw two women being wrapped in plastic and carried onto an airplane after they refused to cooperate with officials.
"I'm here to meet some clients, but they didn't even ask me what I'm in town for," said Wang, a 31-year-old Sydney businessman who said he has traveled to Hong Kong several times before without problems.
Hui Yee-han, a Hong Kong Falun Gong spokeswoman, accused the authorities of tying the hands and feet of some overseas members of the group as they tried to enter Hong Kong to protest against Jiang's efforts to eradicate Falun Gong in mainland China.
Hui said since June 22, immigration authorities had turned away 96 followers, including two Americans, 67 Taiwanese, 13 Australians, four Japanese, two Swedes, one Swiss, two Singaporeans and one Indonesian.
About 75 local Falun Gong followers, however, were still able to stage meditation exercises outside Hong Kong's immigration headquarters on Sunday. [...]
When Jiang last visited, for an economic conference in May 2001, Falun Gong said 100 of its followers were turned away by immigration officials.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association and a British-based group called Article 19 - The Global Campaign for Free Expression voiced fears that the next five years under Tung's leadership will see erosion of local freedoms and autonomy.
They released a report, entitled "The Line Hardens," that cited moves to enact an anti-subversion law, a tougher approach against Falun Gong practitioners and the barring of prominent Chinese-American dissident Harry Wu from visiting the city.
"Officials seem more intent on restricting the freedom of expression and assembly of those who do not agree with the general direction being taken by the administration," said Mak Yin-ting, the journalist association's chairwoman.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020630/ap_wo_en_po/hong_kong_five_years_8
Taipei Times Editorial: The disappearance of freedom
7/03/2002
Forcibly stuffing people into sacks, with their hands and feet bound, and then tossing them onto a vessel may sound like something right out of the Dark Ages, but that is the treatment Hong Kong gave to a number of Falun Gong [practitioners] just three days ago. Falun Gong [practitioners] who were barred from entering the territory but who refused to voluntarily board airplanes to be departed were forced into sacks and put aboard planes.
About 90 or so Falun Gong [practitioners] from Taiwan were denied entry to Hong Kong in recent days, while several dozen other people from Taiwan were also denied entry because their names were either similar to or identical with Falun Gong [practitioners] on a blacklist. All so that Chinese President Jiang wouldn't be bothered by either the sight or sound of the movements' members during his short visit to Hong Kong to mark the fifth anniversary of the territory's return to Chinese rule.
Despite the best efforts of the Hong Kong and Beijing governments, that anniversary had more of the flavor of a wake than a celebration. The celebration were really more like an extravagant funeral for Hong Kong's once-vibrant freedoms of speech and religion. One can't help but feel amazed about Beijing's efficiency in demolishing the seeds of democracy in five short years.
Hong Kong's Security Bureau has repeatedly emphasized that "no one has ever been denied entry due to religious reasons." Falun Gong [practitioners] were told that their entry was barred for immigration and security reasons. What kind of immigration problems could these people possibly have posed, given that they either had Hong Kong-issued visas or were eligible for landing visas? What kind of security threat could they have possibly posed when they only wished to hold peaceful demonstrations against China's crackdown on their group's members?
These people were barred simply for being Falun Gong [practitioners] -- a violation of religious freedom -- and because they planned to participate in peaceful demonstrations -- a violation of freedom of speech.
China is no longer content with persecuting its own Falun Gong [practitioners], but is doing its best to get other governments to do its dirty work for in their countries. Iceland refused entry to Falun Gong [practitioners] ahead of Jiang's visit to that country earlier this year. Fortunately, opinion polls later indicated that 90 percent of Iceland's people disapproved of their government's kowtowing to China. In Australia, lawful and peaceful demonstrations outside the Chinese embassy were banned to avoid upsetting Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxiuan when he was visiting.
It is sad to see this persecution of Falun Gong [practitioners] spreading in the international community. It is a shame to see democratic countries bowing to the Chinese bully in this way. Unfortunately, far too many people have become so used to seeing China getting its way that they hardly notice its abuses. The only reason Hong Kong's treatment of Falun Gong [practitioners] managed to raise eyebrows was the way immigration officials handled the uncooperative people who refused to leave.
The lesson for Taiwan has been clear for quite some time -- "one country, two systems" has been a disaster for Hong Kong. Even those arguing that the territory's economic decline has more to do with the global downturn than the handover can't deny that democracy and freedom no longer have any place there. Hong Kong's path is one road Taiwan does not want to travel.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/07/03/story/0000146857
South China Morning Post: 98 [practitioners] denied entry at airport, says Falun Gong
07/01/2002
Almost 100 overseas Falun Gong [practitioners] had been denied entry to Hong Kong ahead of today's handover ceremony, with some forced on board flights, the group said yesterday.
Kan Hung-cheung, a Hong Kong spokesman for the group, said about 60 overseas [practitioners] were barred from entering the SAR yesterday. The actions took the number of those refused entry since June 22 to 98. [......]
Sixty-seven of the Falun Gong [practitioners] were from Taiwan, 13 from Australia and the rest from Japan and the United States. The overseas [practitioners] intended to join demonstrations today.
About 200 Falun Gong [practitioners] yesterday staged a sit-in and group exercise outside Immigration Tower in Wan Chai to protest against suppression of Falun Gong on the mainland. The group also held a candlelight vigil in Statue Square, Central, last night.
Mr Kan said about 50 [practitioners] from Taiwan were forcibly put on flights home early yesterday. They were stopped after landing at Chek Lap Kok on a flight from Taiwan late on Saturday. Another 10 were refused entry during the day.
Another group spokesman, Hui Cheung Yee-han, said some [practitioners] complained they were covered with blankets and forcibly carried by police on to flights. "Some [practitioners] were even not allowed to make phone calls to their consulates in Hong Kong," she said. Mrs Hui said the overseas [practitioners] were turned away because of President Jiang Zemin's visit to Hong Kong.
Leo Wang, an Australian [practitioner], said no reason was given when he was denied entry at Chek Lap Kok yesterday morning. He said a dozen people who were not [practitioners] were also repatriated yesterday because their names were the same as some [practitioners]. "It suggests that the SAR Government had a blacklist of Falun Gong [practitioners]," he said. [...]
American Edmond Lee Renke, who passed through airport immigration counters, said he saw a fellow [practitioner], Yang Xiangdong from Japan, being tightly wrapped in a blanket and carried out of an airport office yesterday morning.
July 1, 2002 Posted: 5:25 PM HKT (0925 GMT)
HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- As Chinese President Jiang Zemin's motorcade slipped out from the Hong Kong Convention Center, well hidden behind the bulk of the 27-storey Wanchai Tower some 100 [practitioners] of a group Beijing has [suppressed] sat in silent meditation.
"It's ridiculous," Falun Gong [practitioner] and spokeswoman Sophie Xiao said on Monday, clad in the bright yellow T-shirt that has become the movement's trademark.
"It's like Jiang Zemin is afraid of yellow."
The Falun Gong was one of many groups to take to the streets during Jiang's visit to the former British colony on the fifth anniversary of the handover to Chinese rule.
However, despite being restricted to a designated "protest area" well out of sight of the Chinese leader, the group's [practitioners] were keen to distance themselves from others using the anniversary to voice their concerns over such issues as democracy and the shaky Hong Kong economy.
"This is an appeal, not a protest," said one [practitioner]. "We're not a political movement -- we just want the truth to be heard and appeal for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China."
For three years China's ruling Communist Party has labeled the Falun Gong the state's virtual enemy number one. [...]
Practitioners say theirs is a loosely organized spiritual movement, based on three guiding principles of "truthfulness, compassion and forbearance."
Xiao says the reason China fears the Falun Gong is simple and can be summed up in one word: "Popularity."
"In the 10 years since Falun Gong was founded, we have 70 to 100 million regular practitioners in China -- that's more than the membership of the Communist Party."
'Tortured to death'
Xiao says that scared by such a weight of numbers, China's leaders are encouraging often brutal methods in their efforts to wipe out the group.
"We have documented cases of 429 [practitioners] tortured to death by police since the [suppression] began in July 1999," she says, adding that unconfirmed reports from sources indicate that number may be closer to 7,000.
Although banned outright on the mainland, the Falun Gong remains legal in Hong Kong, which has a separate legal system from the rest of China.
However, Xiao says there are signs of a growing trend towards banning the group in Hong Kong as well and she says a controversial anti-subversion law backed by the territory's Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa could well be used against them.
She pointed to the trial last month of several [practitioners] arrested for holding meditation exercises outside the Chinese government liaison office in Hong Kong.
Barred
They have been charged with obstruction and assault against police officers -- charges that Xiao says are "absurd" and symptomatic of the massive political pressure she says Beijing is putting on the Hong Kong government.
In the run-up to the handover anniversary, the Falun Gong says almost 100 of its [practitioners] have been barred from the territory, among them the husband of Australian practitioner Amanda Dowie.
Although she was allowed into Hong Kong, she told CNN her husband John had become separated from her shortly after their plane from Australia landed at the weekend.
Since then, she said, she has only received a brief phone call from him, in which he told her he had been refused entry and was being detained pending his return to Australia.
The Hong Kong government says it never comments on individual cases.
http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/07/01/hk.falun/index.html