(Minghui.org) During the 92nd Interpol General Assembly at Glasgow in the U.K., November 4-7, over 1,000 representatives from 195 member countries attended the event which was held at the Scottish Event Campus. Falun Gong practitioners were also invited to speak during an international criminal law forum on November 5, 2024.
With a theme of transnational repression against overseas Chinese by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its misuse of Interpol’s Red Notice system for political purposes, this forum was organised by Sino Euro Voices, China Watch, and the U.K. Headquarters of the China Democratic Party. More than 20 people spoke during the forum, including two leading barristers from the U.K., experts and scholars, along with groups and individuals suppressed by the CCP.
The CCP’s Misuse of the Red Notice System
Rhys Davies and Ben Keith, two leading barristers, and Interpol expert Ted Bromund all stated in the forum that the CCP abuses the Interpol’s Red Notice system to target Chinese citizens in the most cunning and secretive way.
Tienchi Martin-Liao, president of Sino Euro Voices and former president of the Writers for Peace Committee, pointed out the CCP has been violating Interpol policies by carrying out human trafficking, sexual assaults, corruption, and other acts. She called on the leading barristers and Interpol to modify the rules to better address this issue.
Falun Gong Practitioners Are Victims of the CCP’s Abuse of the Red Notice System
When Swedish citizen Li Zhihui, a Falun Gong practitioner, went on a business trip in 2018, he was detained in Poland. It took two years for his extradition hearing to conclude, during which time Li was detained most of the time. Although the Polish government declined the CCP’s extradition request, Li could not return to Sweden because the Red Notice was still in effect.
Byfield said the CCP has issued multiple Red Notices against Falun Gong practitioners. In addition, CCP agents have carried out physical attacks against Falun Gong practitioners across continents including in the U.K. For example, one attack outside the British Museum in 2018 caused a 56-year-old Chinese female practitioner to sustain a spinal fracture.
During her speech, Byfield introduced what Falun Gong is. Because the CCP is against traditional values, it targeted Falun Gong practitioners for their belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Inside China, a large number of practitioners are closely monitored and arrested arbitrarily, followed by forced labor, torture, rape, brainwashing, and even forced organ harvesting. Outside China, the CCP spreads false information and defamatory propaganda against Falun Gong practitioners. Other types of harassment includes monitoring, cyber attacks, diplomatic pressure, threats, personal attacks, and attempts to extradite Falun Gong practitioners back to China.
Ms. Byfield discussed the China Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, and how it conducted twelve months of investigations in 2018 on forced organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience by the CCP. Hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to have become victims of the CCP’s organ harvesting. Among these prisoners of conscience, most were Falun Gong practitioners. The tribunal concluded that the CCP has committed crimes against humanity in suppressing Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghurs.
Protecting Basic Rights
Archbishop Dr. Costakis Evangelou said that authoritarian regimes often use the legal system to suppress people. In the name of order and national security, they use the law as a weapon to silence differing voices, deprive people of freedom, and force them to obey. By manipulating the legal system and controlling people’s minds, these authoritarian regimes abuse moral values.
He emphasised that freedom is an innate human right and must be protected. If we remain silent, he said, we are essentially supporting a distorted view of the law. Doing so means we are going against the will of love and mercy.
Dr. Evangelou also told Falun Gong practitioners that the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance were consistent with his spiritual belief.
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