Ottawa Citizen: Falun Gong captive freed

Thursday January 11, 2001

The Ottawa Citizen

KunLun Zhang wins freedom from Wangcun labour camp, a.k.a. 'hell on Earth.'

The Canadian refuses to renounce beliefs

A Chinese-Canadian citizen sentenced to three years in a Chinese labour camp for practising the banned spiritual exercises of Falun Gong has been unexpectedly released by Beijing authorities. KunLun Zhang, 60, a former Montreal sculptor who has been the focus of intense Canadian diplomatic lobbying following a series of Citizen stories in December, was released from the brutal Wangcun labour camp yesterday, less than a month before Prime Minister Jean Chretien begins a Team Canada trade mission to China.

A statement by the Chinese embassy in Ottawa said Mr. Zhang was released after serving less than one-third of his three-year sentence because he had "come to a better understanding" of Falun Gong's "[slanderous word] nature" while in the camp. The brief Chinese statement emphasized that Mr. Zhang was a Chinese citizen, not a Canadian, but was being released from the labour camp because he had seen the error of his ways. No mention was made of Mr. Chretien's impending visit or of repeated protests by the Department of Foreign Affairs. The Chinese said Mr. Zhang was sentenced to "education through labour" and "during the time of education, Mr. Zhang had come to a better understanding of the [slanderous word] nature of Falun Gong and his illegal activities." China said he had "indicated that he would distance himself and break away from the organization. He also pledged that he would be a law-abiding citizen."

However, Lucy Zhou, an Ottawa Falun Gong practitioner and close friend of the family, says Mr. Zhang emphatically denied to his daughter in a telephone call after his release that he had renounced Falun Gong. "He wants his supporters to know that the Chinese embassy statements are lies. He wants to clear his name and let people know that he will continue to be a practitioner of Falun Gong."

Mr. Zhang lived in Montreal from 1989 to 1996 before returning to China to care for his ailing mother and teach sculpting at Shangdong University of Arts. He was was arrested last July while practising Falun Gong meditation in a park. He went on a hunger strike to protest his arrest, but was sentenced in December to three years of "education through labour." China rejected Canada's entreaties to release him, claiming that he was a Chinese citizen.

Mr. Zhang entered China on his Chinese passport instead of his Canadian passport. China does not recognize dual citizenship and Foreign Affairs warns that Canadian dual citizens travelling to their native countries using their old national passports are subject to the laws of that country.

Chinese authorities had given no indication Mr. Zhang was about to be released when they granted a visit by his wife last Thursday. "The situation was very bad at the time," said Ms. Zhou. "His wife said that her husband's face had dark marks and he was very pale. They did not allow her to see him at the labour camp he was in. They moved him to a detention camp that he had been held in previously. The family of Falun Gong practitioners never get to visit at the Wangcun camp. It's a very vicious, very terrible place. People call it hell on Earth." Mr. Zhang's daughter, LingDi, a University of Ottawa student, told reporters in November her father "was beaten and tortured with electric shocks" and "forced to watch Chinese government propaganda that defames Falun Gong."

[...]

Mr. Manley had brought up Beijing's brutal crackdown on Falun Gong with his Chinese counterpart during the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Brunei in November, but Chinese officials until yesterday had constantly rebuffed Canadian representations on Mr. Zhang's behalf.

Human rights organizations say China has illegally detained 25,000 practitioners of Falun Gong, arbitrarily incarcerated 1,000 in mental hospitals or prisons and tortured 80 followers to death.

Neither Foreign Affairs nor Mr. Zhang's associates know when or whether he plans to return to Canada. "Our officials in China have not had the opportunity to meet him," said Manley spokeswoman Jennifer Sloan. "We expect a meeting as soon as possible."

Chronology

July 1999: Beijing outlaws Falun Gong [...] In the coming months, police round up tens of thousands of followers and send as many as 5,000 to labour camps. At least 74 are killed in custody.

July 2000: KunLun Zhang, a sculptor who lived in Montreal from 1989 to 1996 and now teaches sculpture at China's Shangdong University of Arts, is arrested for practising Falun Gong meditation movements in a public park. He holds a hunger strike to protest his arrest and is sentenced to labour camp.

Oct. 1: China's National Day, at least 350 protesters are beaten and arrested.

Nov. 17: University of Ottawa student LingDi Zhang appeals to the Canadian government to help free her 60-year-old father, KunLun Zhang, from detention in northern China. Foreign Affairs spokesman Reynald Doiron says the Canadian Embassy in China will forward a diplomatic note. Mr. Zhang lived in Canada from 1989 to 1996 before returning to China to look after his elderly mother. He apparently used his Chinese passport, rather than his Canadian passport with a Chinese visa, to re-enter China. Mr. Zhang's wife ShuMei Zhang, who was also arrested but released to care for her elderly mother, was contacted the previous week but declined assistance from the Canadian Embassy.

Dec. 7: Political pressure mounts on Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley to fight for the release of Mr. Zhang after Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, an internationally renowned human rights lawyer, takes the case. Dec. 10: In China, police seize at least two dozen Falun Gong followers who unfurl banners and chant slogans on Tiananmen Square.

Dec. 14: Ottawa West-Nepean MP Marlene Catterall urges her government to use an upcoming trade trip as leverage in the battle to free Mr. Zhang. She asks Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley to intervene before Mr. Chretien and the provincial premiers embark on their Feb. 9-18 trip.

Dec. 26: Mr. Chretien pushes ahead with his Team Canada trade mission to China in February despite Mr. Zhang's imprisonment.