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TODAY o September 14, 2000
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China holds Atlanta follower of outlawed meditation sect
Saeed Ahmed - Staff
Thursday, September 14, 2000
An Atlanta engineer who traveled to China to pay last respects to a dying relative has run
afoul of the law for carrying literature tied to a banned meditation movement.
Xiaohua Du, 29, and her husband, Shean Lin, were arrested at the Fuzhou City airport
Friday after a customs check revealed several books and CDs on the Falun Gong faith in
their possession. The couple were placed under house arrest while authorities decide on
their next course of action.
Members of Atlanta's Falun Gong community fear the couple will face severe penalties in
light of the Chinese government's recent pledge to intensify its crackdown on the
movement's adherents.
"Xiaohua Du has been very active within the movement here, and the Chinese government
knows that well," said Yuan Li, a fellow engineer and Falun Gong devotee. "Their case is
being taken as a serious one, and sentences are very likely."
China considers Falun Gong --- a combination of yoga, meditation and traditional
breathing exercises --- the most significant political threat to its national security since the
1989 student uprising at Tiananmen Square.
In recent months, Chinese officials have sent thousands of Falun Gong practitioners to
labor camps and committed hundreds more to mental institutions for "re-education." At
least 50 have died while in custody, according to human rights groups.
Du, who holds a Ph.D. in engineering from Georgia Tech and works for an electronics firm
in Atlanta, was married less than four months when she and her husband --- a graduate
student at the University of Alabama --- made the hastily arranged trip to China last week to
visit his ailing father.
The couple, both long-term practitioners of the Falun Gong faith, took along their religious
books. However, they weren't looking to convert anyone, said Judy Lin, a relative who
traveled with them.
"But even after they explained that to custom officials over and over again, they wouldn't
listen. They were immediately detained," Lin said.
Lin, who is an American citizen and has no association with the movement, was permitted
to return to the States on Tuesday. But Du and her husband --- both Chinese citizens ---
remain under government supervision in Fuzhou province in southern China.
"Their experience reveals the danger facing Falun Gong members in America who travel to
China," said Gail Rachlin, a spokeswoman for the group in New York.
She pointed out that other U.S. residents who were found to be followers were held in the
country for long periods and often tortured. In one case, a Denver woman had her stomach
pumped with saltwater; in another, two San Francisco area residents were forced to work
13-hour days cleaning pigpens and piecing together hair brushes.
Earlier this week, the couple were allowed to attend the funeral of Du's father-in-law, who
had died in the meantime. But authorities are expected to interrogate them again pending
word from the central government, which is now looking at the case.
Repeated phone calls to the Chinese Embassy in Washington seeking information about
the couple's status were not returned.
The couple's arrest came on the same day that a U.S. State Department report took China
to task for its continued repression of religious organizations.
The report, part of an annual survey of religious freedoms worldwide, said the
government's respect for Falun Gong has "deteriorated markedly" with the enactment of a
recent law granting law enforcement officials broad authority in dealing with religious
practices that aren't government-sanctioned.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Chinese government denounced the report as
"rumors and lies" and said the Falun Gong crackdown was necessary to stop an "evil cult."
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