“The fact they were willing to risk their lives is a real indicator of the severity of the persecution they received back home,” says Mr Andress.
Falun Gong saw unprecedented popularity in China in the 1990s when the number of practitioners reached up to 100 million people. However, then leader of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin launched a violent campaign of persecution against the practice in 1999 which has continued unabated.
Human rights groups have reported the widespread use torture against Falun Gong prisoners in China’s notorious labor camp system, including harvesting organs from still living practitioners to sell for profit.
One of the asylum seekers, Mr Ling Hongbin, said was tortured in China during his seven years in jail. “When the persecution first started I was in my twenties and had a small baby. When I got out, my child was all grown up,” he told Queensland Falun Gong practitioner, William Luo.
Ling said while in detention he saw many torture methods used on Falun Gong practitioners and was most afraid of his organs being harvested—a common practice used on China’s prisoners that is worth billions of dollars to the regime.
The same fears were expressed by his fellow asylum seeker, Wu Xiaohong, who nearly died after being beaten with electric batons, hung up for hours, and made to sit on a so-called “tiger bench”–a wooden plank where the hands are tied behind the back.
“These people have been through the most horrific situation. They did not know if they'd be pulled out [at] any time to have their organs removed,” said Mr Andress.
The Australian Government has indicated that the trip to New Zealand is out of the question and the group will remain in Darwin for further processing of their refugee status.
“They respect the law. They trust the law, they will do whatever is needed. Obviously they prefer not to stay in mandatory detention here for more than a short period,” said Mr Andress.
