March 3, 2007

(Clearwisdom.net) A group of Falun Gong supporters held a silent protest outside the Chinese Consulate yesterday in support of a Toronto man who says his brother has been jailed in a Shanghai prison.

Shenli Lin and the supporters called on the Canadian government to put pressure on the Chinese Communist Party to free his brother Mingli, 49. Shenli said his brother was imprisoned for freedom of expression and was recently handed a five-year prison sentence.

Joel Chipkar, a spokesman for Falun Gong in Toronto, said he hopes the Stephen Harper government makes "human rights a priority" and "helps with the release of Falun Gong practitioners with Canadian ties."

Shenli said he himself spent two years in a labor camp after being arrested in Shanghai in 1999. He was released in 2002 through the actions of the Canadian government and Amnesty International and returned to Canada.