近日80余名美国众议员于休会期间特意赶回首都华盛顿在一封致克林顿总统的信件上签名表态。在这封信中，美国会议员联名恳切要求总统先生“用尽可能强烈的措辞，用一切可能的方式，重申美国反对北京迫害法轮功修炼者的立场。”信中还敦促克林顿总统“以最强烈的方式转告北京，真正妨碍国家安定的并不是法轮功或其他政治及宗教异见人士，而恰恰是中国政府对自己公民的残酷打压。”
据悉，签名截止日那天，一位女议员乘飞机专程赶回华府，紧接着又风尘仆仆地驱车赶回她在国会大厦的办公室。在截止时间的瞬前她终于赶到了，她急切认真地向负责收集签名的工作人员询问：“还来得及吗？我还能加上自己的签名吗？”在场的人们深为她的恳切而感动。
以下为上述美国众议员致克林顿总统联名信的全文。
| 美国国会
华盛顿，哥伦比亚特区 20515 二○○○年八月二十八日 |
亲爱的总统先生：
在过去的一年内，中华人民共和国的人权状况每况愈下。而对法轮功修炼者和支持者无休止的镇压活动则可能是中国政府无视其本国公民之权利的最恶劣表现。
据国际新闻媒体报导，至少有五万名法轮功修炼者被抓被押，五千多名修炼者未经任何法律程序被判劳教，四百多名被监禁在精神病院，另有五百多名在草率的象征性的审判中被判刑。被关押者经常受到折磨，至少有三十三名修炼者在被政府关押期间死亡。
请以陈子秀的死为例慎虑。这位来自中国潍坊的58岁的退休汽车厂工人，因付不起被关押罚款而死于政府官员的折磨。正如记者伊恩·约翰逊在华尔街日报上所描述，“在陈子秀死的前一天，她的监禁者再一次强求她放弃她对法轮功的信仰。在承受了无数次电棒抽打、尚存一丝意识的情况下，58岁的她顽强地摇了摇头。暴怒之下，当地官员命令陈女士光着脚在雪地里奔跑。两天的拷打使得她的腿到处是瘀紫伤痕，她的短黑发因脓血而缠结在一起。一些同时被囚禁、亲眼目睹这一切的人继续作证说，她爬到外面，呕吐之后昏倒了，从此再也没有醒来。”
与陈女士相似的修炼者们承受了如此极端的虐待，仅仅因为他们和平地履行自己的信仰。而此权利是得到联合国人权宣言承认并受中国自己的宪法保护的。尤其令人不安的是中国政府公开地捏造事实，称法轮功是危害社会安定的“邪教”，从而为他们的暴行辩解。曾几何时，北京用类似的口气声称基督教“家庭教会”拒绝服从政府的监督和领导。事实上，中国和其他的共产党当局指责所有持不同见解的和平的政治和宗教异见人士为公敌，并称对这些异见人士的关押和判刑完全是“依法执事”的表现，以此来为他们的迫害行为作辩解。曾几何时，那些试图与北京“合作”的国际对话者们非但没有对北京采用其应得的强有力谴责，反而对北京方面此等无耻的宣称报以沉默或含糊其词。
正如美国国际宗教自由委员会前任主席，大卫·沙伯斯坦恩所陈：“法轮功几乎成了宗教自由努力的象征。如果成千上万的人民被抓……，被判刑……，被折磨，如果有人在监狱中死去，其他国家怎么能一面声称坚决保证人权，一面又对此保持沉默呢？这也正是我们强烈要求美国政府阐明立场的原因所在。”
您在一九九九年十二月对中国政府镇压法轮功所作的谴责使我们深受鼓舞。不幸的是，自那时起，局势非但没有好转，反而愈加恶化。借此，我们敦促您再一次用尽可能强烈的措辞，用一切可能的方式，重申美国反对北京迫害法轮功修炼者的立场。尤为重要的是，我们希望您能在即将举行的联合国高峰会议上及其他中美政府会议上，敦促包括国家主席在内的中国领导人，尊重法律，释放所有被关押在监狱和精神病院，及被判刑的法轮功修炼者。我们敦促您能以最强烈的方式转告北京，真正妨碍国家安定的并不是法轮功或其他政治及宗教异见人士，而恰恰是中国政府对自己公民的残酷打压。
诚挚的，
克里斯多夫·斯密史 辛西亚·麦克金尼 班杰民·洁尔曼 山姆·杰旦森 弗兰克·沃尔夫 南希·佩罗西 提姆·侯敦 布莱恩·比尔布瑞 苓·芮弗丝 斯迪夫·罗史曼 露西尔·络宝爱德 麦克·汤普森 闰·克林克 安娜·爱殊 詹姆士·马娄尼 肯·路卡思 丹尼·戴维斯 西罗·罗杰基兹 菲利普·可瑞恩 汤姆·兰多司 丹·伯藤 巴尼·弗兰克 约翰·爱德华·波特 兰恩·伊文斯 比尔·麦可考伦 托尼·毫尔 凯斯·贝林杰 盖瑞·爱可曼 托尼·堪布尔 威廉·戴力航 史蒂夫·恰波特 约翰·小康耶思 布瑞德·薛曼 约瑟夫·匹兹 希勒·杰克森·李 杰西·小杰克森 詹姆士·麦克革文 彼得·金 托德·逖尔特 芭芭拉·李 汤姆士·艾伦 唐纳德·曼祖罗 大卫·泊莱思 乔尔·海夫利 斯丹伊·郝耶 罗伯特·曼内丹兹 吉姆·德敏特 克里斯多夫·谢 艾尼·菲琉马夫革 鲍伯·克里曼 罗伯特·威克思勒 泰德·思觉克兰 威廉·科勒 詹姆士·罗根 司革特·麦克因尼斯 艾伦·陶榭 约翰·约瑟夫·牟刻利 卡萝琳·可派屈克 詹妮丝·纱考思基 梅杰·欧文思 阮迪·科宁翰 卡萝琳·马娄尼 爱德·威特菲尔德 沃尔特·琼斯 约翰·艾立司·伯德奇 马丁·弥亨 闰·路易思 鲍比·润 汤姆士·坦可瑞多 马丁·萨伯 罗宾·黑司 威廉·考恩 萝莎·蝶拉罗 鲍伯·夏夫 若绪·豪特 坦蜜·伯德温 伯纳德·山德司 鲍伯·弗兰克 约翰·辛姆克思 路易思·古堤内兹 理查德·庞波 纳迪亚·威拉兹奎兹 克里斯多夫·考克斯 等众议员成员签字
| Congress of the United States
Washington, DC 20515 August 28, 2000 |
Dear Mr. President:
Over the past year, the human rights situation in the People's Republic of China has deteriorated badly. Perhaps the most egregious example of the PRC government's contempt for the rights of its own citizens has been the unrelenting campaign of repression against practitioners and defenders of Falun Gong.
According to international news media reports, at least 50,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested and detained, more than 5,000 have been sentenced to labor camps without trial, 400 have been incarcerated in psychiatric facilities, and over 500 have received prison sentences in cursory show trials. Detainees are often tortured and at least 33 practitioners have died in government custody.
Consider, for instance, the death of Chen Zixiu, a 58-year-old retired autoworker from Weifang, China, who was killed by torture at the hands of government officials when she was unable to pay the fine for her jail time. As described by Ian Johnson in the Wall Street Journal, "the day before Chen Zixiu died, her captors again demanded that she renounce her faith in Falun Dafa. Barely conscious after repeated jolts from a cattle prod, the 58-year-old stubbornly shook her head. Enraged, the local officials ordered Ms. Chen to run barefoot in the snow. Two days of torture had left her legs bruised and her short black hair matted with pus and blood, said cellmates and other prisoners who witnessed the incident. She crawled outside, vomited, and collapsed. She never regained consciousness."
Practitioners like Ms. Chen suffer this kind of extreme mistreatment simply for peacefully exercising their beliefs, a right recognized by the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and guaranteed by China's own Constitution. It is particularly disturbing that Chinese officials have publicly defended these atrocities on the spurious ground that Falun Gong is a "cult" that is allegedly destabilizing the country. In the past, Beijing has made similar statement about Christian "house churches" that refuse to submit to government oversight and direction. Indeed, Communist officials in China and elsewhere have recently begun defending their persecution of peaceful political and religious dissidents of all persuasions on the ground that these people are common criminals and that their detention and imprisonment is simply a manifestation of the "rule of law". Too often, international interlocutors attempting to "engage" Beijing have responded to these outrageous assertions with silence or equivocation rather than with the forceful condemnation they deserve.
As Rabbi David Saperstein, the immediate past Chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, has stated: "Falun Gong has almost become the symbol for the struggle for religious freedom. And when thousands and thousands of people have been arrested..., imprisoned..., tortured, when people have died in prison, it is impossible for countries to say they are deeply committed to human rights and remain silent. And that is why we have urged the United States government to speak out."
We were encouraged by the statement you made in December of 1999 condemning the Chinese government's crackdown on Falun Gong. Unfortunately, since then the situation have gotten worse rather than better. We therefore urge you to reiterate United States opposition to Beijing's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the strongest possible terms and in every available forum. In particular, we hope you will urge Chinese officials including President Jiang Zeming in the forthcoming United Nations summit and in other Sino-US government meetings to respect the rule of law by freeing all detained and imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners in jails and mental institutions. We urge you to convey to Beijing as strongly as possible that it is not Falun Gong or other political and religious dissidents who are destabilizing the country, but rather the government's brutal reaction against its own citizens.
Sincerely,(Signatures of more than 80 Members of Congress)