Montreal, Canada - A Chinese woman in Montreal says she fears arrest and torture if she's returned to her homeland. She's a member of Falun Gong, and she is scheduled to be deported on Friday.
Shortly before Xiaoping Hu came to Canada on a visitor's visa, she had already been sent to what former Chinese residents call a brainwashing centre. She was forced to lie on a table for days without moving until she renounced her belief in Falun Gong.
She did renounce the religious practice, but, when she applied for refugee status while in Canada, she took it up again. Another Falun Gong member, Hui Yang, says, if Hu is deported, the brainwashing centre will seem like nothing.
Yang says she and other Falun Gong members are asking the federal minister of Citizenship and Immigration to stay the deportation, at least long enough for Hu's refugee claim to be reviewed.
Her lawyer Michael Bergman believes it was rejected because of a language barrier. She speaks neither French nor English.
"She didn't have a lawyer. She was accompanied by a friend. Neither she nor the lawyer understood the risk-assessment hearing, and it was rejected," Bergman says.
Bergman says Hu has also renounced her membership in the Communist Party, making her an immediate enemy to Chinese authorities. He says Hu should be allowed to stay in Canada on humanitarian grounds.