A Dublin-based teacher of Falun Gong, the spiritual practice outlawed in China as an "evil cult", has accused the Chinese authorities of trying to force her into permanent exile by refusing to renew her passport.
Ms Dai Dongxue (34), who has been living in Dublin since June 1996, said she had been told by the Chinese embassy here that her application was being refused due to her continuing practice of Falun Gong.
Her passport expired on February 27th and her work permit runs out on May 20th, after which date she fears she may be deported. "If I am forced to go back to China I would be arrested and sent to a labour camp. They consider me as an important member of Falun Gong, as the organiser here in Ireland," she said.
Her case is being backed by Amnesty International's London branch, which has appealed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs to intervene on her behalf. In a letter to Mr Cowen, Amnesty said Ms Dai "might face detention and torture" were she to return home.
Citing a similar case in the UK, Amnesty said: "It seems that the Chinese government are using this as a method of intimidating overseas practitioners and of forcing them into exile."
Ms Dai said the British government had intervened with some success in the UK case and urged Mr Cowen to follow suit. A spokesman for the Minister confirmed Mr Cowen had received submissions on the matter and was studying them.
A Microsoft employee and computer science graduate from Dublin City University, Ms Dai has for the past three years been organising Falun Gong classes in Dublin, which she estimates have been attended by "a couple of hundred" people.
She has also been involved in campaigning against the persecution of practitioners in China, including Mr Zhao Ming, a student at Trinity College Dublin who was arrested and had his passport confiscated on a trip home in December 1999.
He has since been sent to a labour camp where he was allegedly tortured into signing a statement denouncing the practice, which combines meditation and exercise with a doctrine loosely related to Buddhist teachings.
Ms Dai's own family have been persecuted for practising Falun Gong. Her brother was detained and tortured several times, one of her sisters was serving a three-year sentence in a labour camp and another sister was in hiding after fleeing arrest, said Ms Dai.
If her appeals fail, she may be forced to apply for asylum here although she said she would rather not do this as she would be unable to work until her application was processed.
More than 120 Falun Gong practitioners have been killed in police custody and at least 10,000 placed without trial in re-education through labour camps since the movement was banned by the Chinese government in July 1999.
The Chinese embassy offered no comment on Ms Dai's case.
