She believes the only way she could return to China safely would be to
renounce her faith in Falun Gong — an option she won’t consider.
Her family has warned her that the authorities are compiling evidence
against her and would immediately arrest her if she came home.
With this legislation, “the shadow of the more restrictive practices of the People’s Republic of China appears to be looming,” said CPJ in the submission.China, the world’s leading jailer of journalists, currently holds 36 journalists in prison. Most imprisoned Chinese journalists are held on subversion or state secrets charges.
The reality is that the ‘One Country Two Systems’ is quickly becoming One Country One System. The increasingly harsh treatment of Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong is a prime example. Several analysts have suggested that this proposed legislation is being hurried through, precisely to outlaw this totally peaceful spiritual practice. Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security, Regina Ip, has repeatedly denied that Article 23 will be used against Falun Gong. However, she has also denied that there is a ‘blacklist’ of foreign Falun Gong practitioners. The fact that over the last 18 months several hundred practitioners with no criminal records, from a variety of different countries, have been refused entry to the SAR makes a mockery of Ip’s assertions.
Human rights organizations fear that the proposals, if passed into law,
would undermine the existing human rights and civil liberties enjoyed by Hong Kong people and could be used against anyone China or Hong Kong
objects
to, including political dissidents and religious or spiritual groups
such as
Falun Gong — already outlawed on mainland China.
The persecution of the Falun Gong practitioners and general respect for human rights has been debated and MEPs have used their position to highlight the situation and apply pressure on the Commission and Council for action.
PARIS (AFP) – Four followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual
group
have launched legal action in France against the Chinese Vice Premier Li
Lanqing, accusing him of torture, their lawyers said Saturday.
Falun Gong has become the major topic between the world and China regarding the issues of virtue and peace. China has been under overwhelming criticisms of the world media [because of the persecution of Falun Gong].
It revealed, among other things, that penalties for crimes against the
state
would be stiffened to include life imprisonment and that groups such as
Falun Gong, which remains legal in Hong Kong despite its illegal status
on
the mainland, could be banned.
Never mind that the typical
Falun Gong devotee is a little old lady practising deep breathing. Soon she
will be an enemy of the state in Hong Kong as well.
The 13 full-time professors criticised the consultation document, pointing out that the proposed legislation disregards the necessity for journalists to have the right to keep their news sources secret, and that it brushes aside the disparity in freedom of the press between the Mainland and Hong Kong, which blurs the ýone country, two systemsý policy.
