80餘名美國眾議員假期中特意趕回華府簽名致克林頓總統信

【明慧網2000年8月30日】 近日80餘名美國眾議員於休會期間特意趕回首都華盛頓在一封致克林頓總統的信件上簽名表態。在這封信中，美國會議員聯名懇切要求總統先生「用盡可能強烈的措辭，用一切可能的方式，重申美國反對北京迫害法輪功修煉者的立場。」信中還敦促克林頓總統「以最強烈的方式轉告北京，真正妨礙國家安定的並不是法輪功或其他政治及宗教異見人士，而恰恰是中國政府對自己公民的殘酷打壓。」

據悉，簽名截止日那天，一位女議員乘飛機專程趕回華府，緊接著又風塵僕僕地驅車趕回她在國會大廈的辦公室。在截止時間的瞬前她終於趕到了，她急切認真地向負責收集簽名的工作人員詢問：「還來得及嗎？我還能加上自己的簽名嗎？」在場的人們深為她的懇切而感動。

以下為上述美國眾議員致克林頓總統聯名信的全文。

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1）中文譯稿：
美國國會
華盛頓，哥倫比亞特區 20515
二○○○年八月二十八日

總統
白宮
1600 賓夕法尼亞大道，西北段
華盛頓，哥倫比亞特區 20500
親愛的總統先生：

在過去的一年內，中華人民共和國的人權狀況每況愈下。而對法輪功修煉者和支持者無休止的鎮壓活動則可能是中國政府無視其本國公民之權利的最惡劣表現。

據國際新聞媒體報導，至少有五萬名法輪功修煉者被抓被押，五千多名修煉者未經任何法律程序被判勞教，四百多名被監禁在精神病院，另有五百多名在草率的象徵性的審判中被判刑。被關押者經常受到折磨，至少有三十三名修煉者在被政府關押期間死亡。

請以陳子秀的死為例慎慮。這位來自中國濰坊的58歲的退休汽車廠工人，因付不起被關押罰款而死於政府官員的折磨。正如記者伊恩﹒約翰遜在華爾街日報上所描述，「在陳子秀死的前一天，她的監禁者再一次強求她放棄她對法輪功的信仰。在承受了無數次電棒抽打、尚存一絲意識的情況下，58歲的她頑強地搖了搖頭。暴怒之下，當地官員命令陳女士光著腳在雪地裏奔跑。兩天的拷打使得她的腿到處是瘀紫傷痕，她的短黑髮因膿血而纏結在一起。一些同時被囚禁、親眼目睹這一切的人繼續作證說，她爬到外面，嘔吐之後昏倒了，從此再也沒有醒來。」

與陳女士相似的修煉者們承受了如此極端的虐待，僅僅因為他們和平地履行自己的信仰。而此權利是得到聯合國人權宣言承認並受中國自己的憲法保護的。尤其令人不安的是中國政府公開地捏造事實，稱法輪功是危害社會安定的「邪教」，從而為他們的暴行辯解。曾幾何時，北京用類似的口氣聲稱基督教「家庭教會」拒絕服從政府的監督和領導。事實上，中國和其他的共產黨當局指責所有持不同見解的和平的政治和宗教異見人士為公敵，並稱對這些異見人士的關押和判刑完全是「依法執事」的表現，以此來為他們的迫害行為作辯解。曾幾何時，那些試圖與北京「合作」的國際對話者們非但沒有對北京採用其應得的強有力譴責，反而對北京方面此等無恥的宣稱報以沉默或含糊其詞。

正如美國國際宗教自由委員會前任主席，大衛﹒沙伯斯坦恩所陳：「法輪功幾乎成了宗教自由努力的象徵。如果成千上萬的人民被抓……，被判刑……，被折磨，如果有人在監獄中死去，其他國家怎麼能一面聲稱堅決保證人權，一面又對此保持沉默呢？這也正是我們強烈要求美國政府闡明立場的原因所在。」

您在一九九九年十二月對中國政府鎮壓法輪功所作的譴責使我們深受鼓舞。不幸的是，自那時起，局勢非但沒有好轉，反而愈加惡化。藉此，我們敦促您再一次用盡可能強烈的措辭，用一切可能的方式，重申美國反對北京迫害法輪功修煉者的立場。尤為重要的是，我們希望您能在即將舉行的聯合國高峰會議上及其他中美政府會議上，敦促包括國家主席在內的中國領導人，尊重法律，釋放所有被關押在監獄和精神病院，及被判刑的法輪功修煉者。我們敦促您能以最強烈的方式轉告北京，真正妨礙國家安定的並不是法輪功或其他政治及宗教異見人士，而恰恰是中國政府對自己公民的殘酷打壓。

誠摯的，

克里斯多夫﹒斯密史 辛西亞﹒麥克金尼 班傑民﹒潔爾曼
山姆﹒傑旦森 弗蘭克﹒沃爾夫 南希﹒佩羅西
提姆﹒侯敦 布萊恩﹒比爾布瑞 苓﹒芮弗絲
斯迪夫﹒羅史曼 露西爾﹒絡寶愛德 麥克﹒湯普森
閏﹒克林克 安娜﹒愛殊 詹姆士﹒馬婁尼
肯﹒路卡思 丹尼﹒戴維斯 西羅﹒羅傑基茲
菲利普﹒可瑞恩 湯姆﹒蘭多司 丹﹒伯籐
巴尼﹒弗蘭克 約翰﹒愛德華﹒波特 蘭恩﹒伊文斯
比爾﹒麥可考倫 托尼﹒毫爾 凱斯﹒貝林傑
蓋瑞﹒愛可曼 托尼﹒堪布爾 威廉﹒戴力航
史蒂夫﹒恰波特 約翰﹒小康耶思 布瑞德﹒薛曼
約瑟夫﹒匹茲 希勒﹒傑克森﹒李 傑西﹒小傑克森
詹姆士﹒麥克革文 彼得﹒金 托德﹒逖爾特
芭芭拉﹒李 湯姆士﹒艾倫 唐納德﹒曼祖羅
大衛﹒泊萊思 喬爾﹒海夫利 斯丹伊﹒郝耶
羅伯特﹒曼內丹茲 吉姆﹒德敏特 克里斯多夫﹒謝
艾尼﹒菲琉馬夫革 鮑伯﹒克里曼 羅伯特﹒威克思勒
泰德﹒思覺克蘭 威廉﹒科勒 詹姆士﹒羅根
司革特﹒麥克因尼斯 艾倫﹒陶榭 約翰﹒約瑟夫﹒牟刻利
卡蘿琳﹒可派屈克 詹妮絲﹒紗考思基 梅傑﹒歐文思
阮迪﹒科寧翰 卡蘿琳﹒馬婁尼 愛德﹒威特菲爾德
沃爾特﹒瓊斯 約翰﹒艾立司﹒伯德奇 馬丁﹒彌亨
閏﹒路易思 鮑比﹒潤 湯姆士﹒坦可瑞多
馬丁﹒薩伯 羅賓﹒黑司 威廉﹒考恩
蘿莎﹒蝶拉羅 鮑伯﹒夏夫 若緒﹒豪特
坦蜜﹒伯德溫 伯納德﹒山德司 鮑伯﹒弗蘭克
約翰﹒辛姆克思 路易思﹒古堤內茲 理查德﹒龐波
納迪亞﹒威拉茲奎茲 克里斯多夫﹒考克斯 等眾議員成員簽字

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2）英文原稿：

Congress of the United States
Washington, DC 20515
August 28, 2000

The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500
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)