The sentencing of a member of the family of two Florida residents due to their religion has revealed the “true nature” of the Chinese language Communist Get together (CCP), in accordance with Rep. Invoice Posey (R-Fla.).
“Nobody must be jailed for exercising their religion. That is the true nature of the CCP—and it’s why we should proceed working arduous to confront their dangerous actions, counter their affect in our personal nation and cut back our dependence on them,” Posey instructed The Epoch Instances.
Zhou Deyong, a geological engineer working for China’s second-largest oil area, was handed an eight-year jail time period on April 20 together with a 100,000 yuan ($14,506) advantageous, following two years of detention throughout which his spouse and son in Florida had little details about his wellbeing.
Zhou’s harsh therapy is a part of the Chinese language regime’s bloody persecution marketing campaign in atheist China focusing on the non secular self-discipline Falun Gong, which has continued for practically 24 years.
That includes teachings centered on values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance together with a set of meditative workouts, the self-refinement observe noticed large recognition in the course of the Nineteen Nineties, with an estimated 70 million to 100 million training by the tip of the last decade. The regime perceived Falun Gong’s fast development as a menace to its maintain on energy, and in 1999 started a nationwide marketing campaign to repress it.
The information of Zhou’s heavy jail phrases weighs on his son, who hasn’t seen him since his father’s journey to the USA in early 2021. Zhou was arrested not lengthy after returning to China to take care of his aged dad and mom.
“My father is an harmless, kind-hearted man, however these persons are going after him like this,” Zhou You instructed The Epoch Instances. He mentioned he feels “pained” to consider his father and the authorized authorities who’ve willingly turned themselves right into a device to assist the regime’s abuse.
The sentencing ignited outrage amongst Florida lawmakers who protested Zhou’s detention and referred to as for the State Division to “make use of the instruments out there” to sanction Chinese language officers complicit within the “horrific human rights abuses focusing on Falun Gong practitioners.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), whose workplace has been in shut contact with the Zhou household, mentioned that neither the persecution nor the sentencing stands floor.
“The CCP’s unjustified persecution of Falun Gong practitioners has led to the absurd sentencing of Zhou Deyong,” he instructed The Epoch Instances, including that “we won’t stay silent as China’s genocidal regime continues its battle on spiritual freedom in an effort to destroy religion.”
Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), co-chairman of the Worldwide Non secular Freedom Caucus, mentioned that he was “actually heartbroken to be taught of the eight-year sentence Zhou Deyong has been given for merely training his religion.”
Each Bilirakis and Rubio help the Cease Compelled Organ Harvesting Act, a invoice designed to curb the regime’s killing of Falun Gong practitioners and different prisoners of conscience for his or her organs. The invoice’s Home model on March 27 overwhelmingly handed the Home as the primary nonsymbolic U.S. legislative measure to deal with the problem.
Like Rubio, Bilirakis mentioned he needed to ensure victims equivalent to Zhou underneath the regime’s suppression will not be forgotten.
“The worldwide neighborhood has an obligation to talk out on behalf of these whose voices, like Zhou’s, have been silenced for a lot too lengthy, for if we keep silent within the face of those transgressions, we achieve this on the peril of civil society,” he instructed The Epoch Instances. “We should proceed to use strain to power the CCP’s hand in granting its individuals basic human rights, together with the proper to worship.”
In condemning the regime’s ongoing suppression of religion, Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) additionally turned consideration to company America, who he believes additionally shares the blame for the abuses.
“The Chinese language Communist Get together continues to point out its true bigotry—that there isn’t any room for worship if it doesn’t contain the communist ideology,” he instructed The Epoch Instances. “Regardless of their horrid file on spiritual freedom, company America will proceed to evangelise social justice in America but ignore these actions in China as a result of they’re so drunk on cashflow.”
