UUI, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 12: Henvendelse af 17/10-23 fra Foreningen for Falun Dafa i Danmark vedr. Massearrestation i Longkou City, kongresmedlem opfordrer til løsladelse

Udlændinge- og Integrationsudvalget 2023-24
UUI Alm.del Bilag 12
Offentligt

Fra:

Foreningen for Falun Dafa i Danmark <[email protected]>

Sendt:

17. oktober 2023 13:57

Til:

Birgitte Vind <[email protected]>; Pia Kjærsgaards sekretærer <[email protected]>;

Mohammad Rona <[email protected]>; Kasper Sand Kjær <[email protected]>; Charlotte H. Larsen

<[email protected]>; Weston Behrend von Bourke <[email protected]>; Charlotte Schwaner

<[email protected]>

Emne:

Massearrestation i Longkou City, kongresmedlem opfordrer til løsladelse

Thursday, October 5, 2023

Dear Reader,

In May, a mass arrest in Longkou City, Shandong Province, resulted in 23

Falun Gong practitioners and their family members being detained in one

day, with seven still facing prosecution.

Mass arrests like this one, carried out

across China, demonstrate the ongoing devotion of significant resources by

Chinese security agencies to the campaign against Falun Gong.

In other news:

•

U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California called on the State

Department to raise the case of a detained Falun Gong practitioner, the

mother of her constituent.

A retired kindergarten teacher was sentenced in China to four years in

prison for seeking to reinstate her pension after it was suspended due to

her Falun Gong activism.

In August 2023, the Minghui website received 66 reports of Falun Gong

practitioners unjustly sentenced in China to prison terms of up to 8 years.

In celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Falun Gong practitioners from

across China and around the globe sent greeting cards to Falun Gong

founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi.

•

UUI, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 12: Henvendelse af 17/10-23 fra Foreningen for Falun Dafa i Danmark vedr. Massearrestation i Longkou City, kongresmedlem opfordrer til løsladelse

In an interview, Ms. Jun Yi recounts the trauma of visiting her father,

detained for practicing Falun Gong, when she was only 15 years old.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who participated in the survey we sent out last

•

week. The responses have been helpful and encouraging. If you have not yet

taken the survey and would like to participate, click

here.

Sincerely,

Levi Browde,

Executive Director

Falun Dafa Information Center

FEATURED CASE

Mass Arrest in Longkou: Falun Gong Practitioners

and Family Members Detained

What's new?

In a coordinated campaign, on May 9, 2023, security forces across Longkou City,

Shandong Province detained 23 people, including 21 Falun Gong practitioners

and two family members who do not practice the meditation discipline.

Seven of the individuals are still facing prosecution. Confiscated Falun Gong

books and materials with information about the persecution are being used as

evidence of their so-called “criminal” activities. Four of the individuals remain in

detention, while two are under house arrest and one has been released on bail.

Why does it matter?

Beyond detaining individual practitioners, authorities frequently execute

coordinated raids or crackdowns on large groups of Falun Gong practitioners.

These are typically targeted at those who gather to study Falun Gong texts

together or operate “materials sites” to distribute information that counters the

CCP’s false propaganda about Falun Gong and exposes rights abuses. Other

UUI, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 12: Henvendelse af 17/10-23 fra Foreningen for Falun Dafa i Danmark vedr. Massearrestation i Longkou City, kongresmedlem opfordrer til løsladelse

mass arrests reported in September took place in cities in

Jilin, Heilongjiang,

and

Hebei.

These coordinated efforts often involve months of monitoring and utilizing video

surveillance or forced confessions from detained Falun Gong practitioners to

identify targets, and span multiple locations in a single city or province. In this

case, over 100 police officers from eight different police stations in Longkou

participated in the arrests. Such exhaustive operations demonstrate the ongoing

devotion of significant resources by Chinese security agencies to the campaign

against Falun Gong.

What else do you need to know?

The families of the four still detained individuals went to the Longkou City

Domestic Security Office after they received formal arrest notices on June 14,

seeking to have the arrests revoked on the grounds that no actual crimes had

been committed. They also requested the names, titles, and identification numbers

of the arresting officers, but recieved no reply.

Subsequently, they filed complaints with the Longkou City Procuratorate and the

Longkou City Police Department, alleging that the authorities had violated legal

procedures during the arrests.

In retaliation, authorities intimidated the families who had filed the complaints.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor, Ms. Wang Fei, ignored the complaints and proceeded

with the prosecutions, indicting the four detained practitioners on July 26. Their

families were not informed of the indictments until nearly a month later, on August

21.

FAMILY RESCUE

U.S. Congresswoman Requests State Department

to Help Rescue Detained Falun Gong Practitioner

Congresswoman Barbara Lee, a Democrat from California, wrote to U.S.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on behalf of her constituent, Ms. Liu Zhitong.

UUI, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 12: Henvendelse af 17/10-23 fra Foreningen for Falun Dafa i Danmark vedr. Massearrestation i Longkou City, kongresmedlem opfordrer til løsladelse

Ms. Liu's mother, Kong Qingping, has been detained in China since October 2022

for possessing Falun Gong books and materials used to counteract the

persecution. In the letter, Rep. Lee wrote, “I urge you to ask Ambassador Nicholas

Burns to raise this case directly with his PRC counterparts and call for Ms. Kong’s

immediate unconditional release.”

The Ganjingzi District Court in Dalian tried Ms. Kong via a virtual hearing on

September 22, 2023, but did not announce a verdict. She is now held at the Yaojia

Detention Center and is awaiting a second hearing.

“It is well documented that Falun Gong practitioners have been arbitrarily detained

and subjected to other human rights abuses,” wrote the congresswoman. “These

actions by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have garnered widespread

condemnation from the global community. This case, among others, underscores

the importance of raising awareness and unequivocally opposing such

transgressions against human rights.”

FEATURED CASE

Falun Gong Practitioner Sentenced to 4.5 Years

for Seeking to Reinstate Suspended Pension

Ms. Sun Qingju, a 60-year-old retired kindergarten teacher from Helong City, Jilin

Province, received a four-and-a-half-year sentence for seeking to reinstate her

pension, which was suspended after a previous four-year sentence. The Helong

City Social Security Bureau also ordered Ms. Sun to repay the 150,000 yuan

(about $20,500 USD) that was paid to her during the sentence. Ms. Sun was

arrested and released several times between April and August 2022 for her lawful

efforts to seek justice before she was ultimately taken into custody on August 31.

She is reportedly held in the city of Changchun, but her exact whereabouts are

unknown.

PERSECUTION OVERVIEW

UUI, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 12: Henvendelse af 17/10-23 fra Foreningen for Falun Dafa i Danmark vedr. Massearrestation i Longkou City, kongresmedlem opfordrer til løsladelse

Reported in August 2023: 66 Falun Gong

Practitioners Sentenced

In August 2023, the Minghui website received 66 reports of Falun Gong

practitioners sentenced for their faith or peaceful activism to combat the CCP’s

persecution. The prison terms ranged from six months to eight years. Among them

was Mr. Li Wenming, a 59-year-old man from Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, who

has served 19 years in prison since 1999 for his faith and activism related to Falun

Gong and was given another five years.

AROUND THE WORLD

Practitioners from 50 Countries Sent Moon

Festival Greetings to Falun Gong Founder, Mr. Li

Hongzhi

One greeting card reads, "Revered and compassionate Teacher: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Respectfully, Young practitioners in Chengdu City September 2023"

UUI, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 12: Henvendelse af 17/10-23 fra Foreningen for Falun Dafa i Danmark vedr. Massearrestation i Longkou City, kongresmedlem opfordrer til løsladelse

The Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Festival, is a time for reunions and celebration.

In the spirit of the holiday, Falun Gong practitioners across the globe sent greeting

cards to Falun Gong’s founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi. The greetings, sent to Minghui.org,

came from

across China

as well as over 50 countries around the world, spanning

from Ecuador to Afghanistan, Palau to Slovenia, and many places in between.

Some individuals who do not practice Falun Gong, such as relatives of

practitioners or rights activists in China, also sent greetings.

HAVE YOU READ THIS?

23 years ago this month, in October 2000, the Wall Street Journal published an

article “Paper

Chase,”

part of a Pulitzer Prize winning series by Ian Johnson. The

piece narrates the struggle of a woman navigating China’s bureaucracy to acquire

the death certificate of her mother, Ms. Chen Zixiu. Ms. Chen’s torture to death by

local police was documented in Johnson’s first article in the series. While

authorities claimed she died of natural causes, her daughter suspected foul play.

Ms. Chen was arrested while appealing in Beijing for the right to practice Falun

Gong, and witnesses detained with Ms. Chen reported she was tortured.