Victim:

Ms. Dai Dongxue, female, 37, resident of Clonskeagh, Dublin, Ireland

Location:

The Chinese Embassy in Dublin, Ireland

Description:

Ms. Dai Dongxue came to Ireland in 1997, gained a Masters degree from Dublin City University and now works for Microsoft in Dublin. Ms. Dai was detained for one week at the end of 1999 for returning China to appeal to her government to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners and allow them to practice their belief in peace, and after which she was deported to Ireland.

Since her passport was to expire on February 27, 2001, in August 2000 she applied to extend her passport at the Chinese Embassy in Dublin. The Embassy staff refused the extension, without supplying a letter of explanation or written confirmation of the denial.

On February 27, 2001, she again called the Embassy about her passport. Mr. Wang, the Secretary of the Embassy, made it clear that her passport would only be renewed if she denounced Falun Gong, meanwhile claiming that she had broken Chinese law by practicing Falun Gong.

After the Amnesty International in London heard of this, they sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ireland asking for help.

Ms. Dai’s two elder sisters Ms. Dai Xialing and Ms. Dai Qiuxia both were sentenced to three years in a labor camp, because they refused to give up practicing of Falun Gong. Her younger brother has been arbitrarily detained for practicing Falun Gong. Due to the stress of her family being torn apart by the persecution, her 70-year-old mother passed away in October 2002. The Chinese Embassy still refused to issue Ms. Dai a passport to attend her mother’s funeral. It was the third time that the Chinese Embassy in Dublin refused to renew her passport in less than two years.

News Reports:

1.      The Irish Times, China accused of 'exiling' woman

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2001/0330/hom6.htm

Joe Humphreys

2.      Irish Times, Release of Chinese student sought, Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent. Tuesday, May 8, 2001

3.      Irish Examiner, China persecutes Falun Gong woman, Seán McCárthaigh, 17/07/02

http://www.examiner.ie/pport/web/ireland/Full_Story/did-sgIoANDg8NEtA.asp

4.      Irish Times, Dongxue Dai from China, now living in Clonskeagh, Dublin, August 30, 2003

5.      Irish Times, Ancient practice has followers in Ireland, Caroline Crawford, September 4, 2001