Falun Gong asylum-seeker loses appeal to stay in UK

Published on Wednesday 13 December 2006 01:36

A FOLLOWER of the Falun Gong spiritual movement has been refused permission to remain in Scotland, and will be returned to China.

Qu Wen Cai had said he faced persecution in China because of his beliefs, but appeal judges at the Court of Session in Edinburgh backed a decision to refuse his claim for asylum.

The court heard that Qu Wen Cai fled his homeland in 1999, after the authorities banned Falun Gong and arrested many adherents following a demonstration in Beijing.

He arrived illegally in the United Kingdom, via Mongolia and Russia, early in 2000, and has lived in Glasgow while seeking asylum.

Falun Gong, which has a mixture of Buddhist and Taoist beliefs, is said to have originated in prehistoric times, but came to public notice only in the 1990s. According to China, it poses a threat to social stability.

Qu Wen Cai's application for asylum was rejected by the Home Office, and he lost an appeal to an immigration judge.

The judge, Hugh Macleman, said there was evidence many adherents of Falun Gong had been persecuted in China, but "low-level" practitioners were not generally at risk.

Qu Wen Cai's final appeal was to the Court of Session. In its judgment, Lord Kingarth, sitting with Lords Philip and Eassie, said he had failed to meet the required test, that the immigration judge's decision could be described as perverse, and his appeal must be refused.