PureInsight | January 24, 2017
[PureInsight.org] Recently, Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong and Korean protested in front of the Chinese Embassies in those regions to demanding that the Chinese government release Mr. Wang Zhiwen.
Mr. Wang Zhiwen used to be one of the coordinators of the Falun Dafa Association in China. After the Chinese communist regime started its crackdown of Falun Gong in the summer of 1999, Mr. Wang was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In October of 2014, Mr. Wang was released from jail on health probation after various physical tortures inside the prison that resulted in him breaking his collarbone, losing all of his teeth, and having his fingers pierced by bamboo sticks. When Mr. Wang was first imprisoned, he was a very healthy man; now he has become a weak gray-haired old man.
Mr. Wang’s daughter, Ms. Wang Xiaodan, who had just left China for the United States to pursue her studies prior to her father’s arrest by the Chinese government, has been working to get her father out of China throughout the past 17 years. She initiated a petition for her father’s release, and also called for the help of the United States government. In the end, members of the United States Congress as well as some human rights organizations officially demanded that the Chinese government release Mr. Wang.
In an annual report issued by the United States’ Congressional Executive Commission on China, Mr. Wang was cited as one of the most significant human rights abuse cases conducted by China in its campaign to persecute Falun Gong. According to the report, in the summer of 1999, Mr. Wang was sentenced to prison and held in jails in Beijing and Tianjing due to his adherence to Falun Gong. Mr. Wang was released from jail in October of 2014, after which he was transferred to a “brainwashing” center where he stayed for another 7 days. Mr. Wang’s physical health was in great danger at the time of his release from jail.
In the next two years after his release, Mr. Wang was placed under house arrest. Four monitoring cameras were installed around Mr. Wang’s house, putting him under 24 hours of surveillance. Furthermore, two guards were assigned to accompany Mr. Wang whenever he went out.
Ms. Wang wanted to bring her father to the United States so that she could take care of him. After his release, Mr. Wang applied for a passport from the Chinese government so that he could visit his daughter, but his application was denied. In January of this year, the Chinese government finally granted Mr. Wang a passport, so Ms. Wang and her husband went back to China to take Mr. Wang to the United States. After 18 years of separation, Ms. Wang finally met her father in Beijing. They successfully escaped the Chinese government’s man hunt and eventually got an America visiting visa in Guangzhou. However, on August 5th, 2016, when Ms. Wang and her father were going through the departure gate at the Guangzhou airport, Mr. Wang’s passport was taken away and destroyed on claims that the passport had already been dismissed by the Ministry of Public Security. As a result, Mr. Wang was unable to leave China for the U.S., and Ms. Wang and her husband had to go back to the U.S. without her father. Up until now, Ms. Wang is still unable to get into contact with her father.
People around the world condemn Chinese government’s detention of Mr. Wang. U.S. Congressman Chris Smith said, “Zhiwen Wang was unjustly imprisoned for 15 years, the U.S. gave him a visa, he should be allowed to visit his daughter.” United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has also urged the Chinese government to issue a new passport to Mr. Wang as soon as possible. A worldwide campaign to helping Mr. Wang get out of China is being held around the world. Falun Gong practitioners as well as other human rights activists have conducted protests in front of Chinese Consulates across the globe.
At the beginning of August, in Macau, Hong Kong and Korean, Falun Gong practitioners gathered in front of the Chinese Consulates there to demand the Chinese government to issue a new passport to Mr. Wang and set Mr. Wang free so that he can reunite with his family. They also demanded that Jiang Zemin— the former CCP (Chinese Communist Party) leader who had instigated the persecution against Falun Gong, be brought to justice for his crimes against humanity.
Translated from: http://news.zhengjian.org/2016/08/14/33355.html
