Falun Gong follower foils expulsion

A Chinese woman has foiled a deportation attempt by knocking herself out as she was being taken to Dublin Airport.

The incident happened on Thursday when Ms Junhua Zhang (57), a Falun Gong practitioner who has lived in Ireland for the past three years, was being escorted to the airport for a flight back to China.

The Garda Press Office declined to comment on her case, but supporters of the woman said she knocked herself out by hitting her head against a wall.

She was taken to hospital overnight before being returned to Mountjoy Prison yesterday.

It is believed that a further attempt to deport her will be made during the weekend, although a solicitor acting on her behalf was yesterday seeking an undertaking from the authorities that they would not proceed until he could take instructions from her.

Falun Gong is a spiritual movement whose followers are persecuted in China.

A spokeswoman for the movement in Ireland, Ms Dong Xue Dai, said Ms Zhang - a widow who has an adult daughter in China - spoke no English and had misunderstood the asylum application process here, failing to reply to letters sent to her.

She was arrested in August when attempting to have her asylum card renewed, and had been held in Mountjoy Women's Prison since then. Ms Zhang was a "genuine" Falun Gong practitioner, the spokeswoman said.