U.S. citizen and Falun Gong practitioner Dr. Charles Lee was arrested in China on January 22, 2003 for planning to interrupt state-owned TV signals with truthful information about the Chinese government’s crackdown against Falun Gong. He was subsequently rushed through a "show trial" and sentenced to three years in prison.
Dr. Lee began an eight-day hunger strike on May 27 to protest his treatment by authorities. The American consulate in Shanghai reported Charles was force-fed in a hospital inside Nanjing prison, but U.S. officials have been denied permission to visit. Seventy-four Falun Gong practitioners in custody have been confirmed dead as a result of force-feeding torture.
Since Charles was first arrested in January of this year, many initiatives have been undertaken to raise awareness of his situation, including letter writing and petition campaigns to President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and U.S. Ambassador to China Clark T. Randt Jr. On July 22, 2003 5,000 Falun Gong practitioners held a rally on Capitol Hill where members of Congress and representatives of prominent non-governmental organizations made statements condemning the four-year persecution and asking the government of China to immediately release Charles Lee. Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), who introduced House Concurrent Resolution 447 in 2002 condemning the Chinese regime’s attempts to persecute Falun Gong followers in the U.S., spoke about the plight of her fellow Californian: “We are all here to work for freedom in China. But no sacrifice is more than the dream of Charles Lee, an American citizen imprisoned by the Chinese government” (news). Ms. Woolsey added, “China’s repression must end. We must declare that intolerance is intolerable. We must continue Falun Gong’s struggle for freedom in China, and in so doing, we will strike a blow for freedom everywhere.”
In mid-August, a "Van Tour to Rescue Charles Lee" began in Los Angeles and drove through San Francisco, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and countless numbers of small towns and cities and ended September 16 at the U.S. Department of State in Washington D.C.
On September 9, Friends of Falun Gong USA Executive Director Alan Adler addressed the Van Tour rally in New Jersey. “We are here today because an American citizen, Dr. Charles Lee, is in a Chinese jail,” he remarked. “The Chinese government would like you to believe that Dr. Lee is in jail for breaking the law. In fact, Dr. Lee is in jail because he practices Falun Gong and because he tried to help the Chinese learn the truth about a terrible persecution that is affecting their entire nation.”
On September 17, the U.S. Ambassador to China, Mr. Clark T. Randt Jr. gave a talk entitled, "The U.S. --China Relationship and Development of Law" to approximately 150 law school students and scholars at Yale University. When asked what the American government plans to do about the incarceration and treatment of Dr. Lee, Ambassador Randt said, "I'm very aware of Charles Lee's case. We pay close attention to him, because he is an American citizen. Now the police have stopped force-feeding him." The Ambassador continued, "Of course, we request the Chinese government to unconditionally release him."
Although it is known that Dr. Lee has been beaten, subjected to physical torture, made to attend brainwashing classes, and force-fed, consular officials are no longer allowed to visit him in the Nanjing jail. U.S. consulates in Beijing and Shanghai continue to request Charles’ immediate and unconditional release, however, and Friends of Falun Gong USA will continue to add our efforts to the many Falun Gong followers and supporters working to bring him home.
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