************************************************************** IFCSS Headquarters News Release No.5023 July 21, 1993 ************************************************************** Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS) 733 15th Street, N.W., Suite 440, Washington, D.C.20005 Tel. (202)347-0017 Fax: (202)347-0018 Email: ifcss@wam.umd.edu A Chinese Student Detained by the Secret Police in Beijing ========================================================== On July 18, 1993, a Chinese home-visiting student was detained by the secret police for two hours at Beijing Airport before leaving for the U.S. The student (whose name is not released for the safety of his family members still in China) was one of the volunteers for the IFCSS, who helped to deliver money to the victims of the June 4th Massacre. As you can remember, during the summer of 1989, many of us from the Chinese student community and of our American friends donated money to help the families and children who had suffered human loss during the Massacre. Over the last year, the IFCSS has coordinated different campuses to channel the money back to these victims in China, and a total of $26,000 were delivered. Most receivers were not famous democratic activists, but ordinary people whose family members were killed or permanently wounded while being on-lookers on the Beijing streets. The IFCSS "June 4th Humanitarian Program" has been operated in a fashion which is non-political and independent of any other human rights organizations. The reason we sponsor the program is that we cannot forget our deep-felt sympathy for those victims, nor can we forget our responsibility to alleviate their sufferings. However, when this student was leaving Beijing Airport for the U.S., the secret police detained him for two hours. They thoroughly searched his luggage and belongings, interrogated him of his activities in helping the June 4th victims, and forced him to write a formal statement that he will never be involved in such activities again. The student was very brave indeed. He insisted that all of his helping efforts were based on non-political motives but humanitarian reasons, and that it came directly from his conscience. Indeed, he never broke any laws in China, and all he did was to help those victims who desperately needed help. He told the secret police that he as well as other overseas students would have done the same even if it might get them into trouble. Minutes after the incident, the IFCSS HQ was informed of the event. The IFCSS June 4th Humanitarian Committee was immediately mobilized to work for the safe return of the home-visiting student who had volunteered to deliver money to the victimized family members. Though we are relieved that the volunteer has safely returned to the U.S. on his scheduled flight, we deeply regret that the secret police of the Chinese government should harass our student conducting humane and conscience activities. We will send our protest to the Chinese government demanding that such incident would never occur to our students. ********************************************************************* * IFCSS Headquarters Office * *-------------------------------------------------------------------* * President: Lin Changsheng Vice President: Shi Heping * *-------------------------------------------------------------------* * PBS-L is IFCSS's news distribution list for individuals. To sign * * on or off from the list, please send email to listserv@ifcss.org * * leave the subject line open and put in the mail body: * * (For signing on) sub PBS-L last name first name * * (For signing off) unsub PBS-L last name first name * * For more information about IFCSS, write to ifcss-info@ifcss.org * *********************************************************************