Refugee Rights - Villawood asylum-seeker taken to hospital

March 28, 2007 - Villawood detainee taken to hospital
A detainee at Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre has been taken to hospital because of concerns for his wellbeing.

The Department of Immigration says An Xiang Tao was taken to Bankstown Hospital as a precautionary measure and is under medical supervision.

The man had recently been placed in isolation. Bankstown Hospital say he is in a stable condition.

It is believed this is the same man - a Chjinese Falun Gong practitioner - who was at the centre of a failed forced deportation in February.

The detainee, Falun Gong practitioner Xiang Tao An, feared he would be forced to become part of a live organ trade.

Mr An, 35, believes that his religion means he will be incarcerated on arrival in China. He says he has been detained twice by Chinese authorities in the past and claims he was beaten.

The suppression of Falun Gong practitioners has been regarded by most western governments as a major international human rights issue.

As of December 2005, sixty-one lawsuits have been filed in about thirty countries charging senior Chinese officials with genocide, torture, and crimes against humanity for their roles in the treatment of Falun Gong in mainland China.

SOURCES:
Source - ABC news

Villawood detainees form human barricade to stop Falun Gong deportation - Perth Indymedia