Urgent appeal to free Ying Zhu, Canadian resident arrested in China

May 31, 2001

We are here today to ask for your help to free Ms.Ying Zhu from China. Ying is a permanent resident of Canada and a student at Concordia University in Montreal. On May 10, 2001 Ying went missing when she traveled to China to visit her husband and parents . Ying's mother had recently undergone two heart surgeries and urgently wished to see her daughter. However, Ying never arrived and no one has heard from her since. On May 24, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Hong Kong confirmed that Ying had been arrested right after she entered China because she is a Falun Gong practitioner.

We are shocked that she could be arbitrarily arrested for doing nothing wrong. We are saddened by her disappearance in China, and have difficulty understanding how Ying, a person whom we know as being gentle, kind, and sincere, can be treated as a criminal and subject to persecution.

We appeal to all kind hearted people to help return her safely home, and to end this tragic persecution of Falun Gong that continues to devastate millions of lives. Please voice your concern in whatever way you feel is appropriate. Your voice can help the tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners currently detained in jails, labor camps, and psychiatric hospitals in China.

Your kind help is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely Yours,

Ying's friends in Canada