January 4, 2001

The situation in China for Prof. Kunlun Zhang has just become worse.

The Canadian professor of art, arrested in 1999 for practising Falun Gong, was recently moved to one of the area's most severe labour camps after he consistently refused to deny his ties to the popular movement.

Falun Gong, a mental and physical practice similar to Tai Chi, was banned by the Chinese government in 1999 amid fears its high number of devotees might become a threat to the Communist Party. Thousands of practitioners were arrested under the crackdown.

News that her father had been moved to the notorious labour camp trickled to Lingdi Zhang, a student at the University of Ottawa, via international human rights group.

'I'm very scared'

"I'm very scared," she said yesterday, her voice quivering with emotion. "I just want the government to act quickly so my father is safe."

Zhang was arrested three times in 1999 and was sentenced to three years in a labour camp.

He and his wife had returned to China in 1996 to care for Zhang's ailing 90-year-old mother-in-law. Zhang, who holds duel citizenship, avoided delays associated with applying for a visa by using his Chinese passport.

That decision has become a major obstacle, restricting the Canadian government from obtaining any information on Zhang's condition and whereabouts. The Chinese government does not recognize duel citizenship, said Reynald Doiron, a spokesman for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs.