Posted on 04/21/2006 12:39:37 PM PDT by Jack Black
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A heckler from the Falun Gong spiritual movement who disrupted a White House appearance by Chinese President Hu Jintao was charged in federal court on Friday with harassing, intimidating or threatening a foreign official.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington said the misdemeanor charge carries a penalty of up to six months in jail.
The woman, who entered the White House grounds as a reporter, interrupted a formal arrival ceremony between Hu and President George W. Bush on Thursday and shouted: "President Hu, your days are numbered. President Bush, make him stop persecuting Falun Gong."
The embarrassing episode marred the South Lawn event and created a diplomatic stir. Bush personally apologized to Hu for the incident.
U.S. officials identified the woman as Wang Wenyi, 47, a reporter with The Epoch Times, an English-language publication strongly supportive of the meditation movement that is banned in China.
Spokesman Channing Phillips said she was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service and that the U.S. Attorney's office decided to proceed by filing the federal charge in court.
The law at issue bars harassing, intimidating or threatening a foreign official in the performance of their official duties.
When she was arrested, the heckler was charged with disorderly conduct. The spokesman said that charge, under local law, could be brought later.
I agree..well stated.
Yes, I saw the video. The "your days are numbered" was delievered in Chinese, which I don't speak. Why?
Amen to that. It's taken the Bush Admin five years to start cracking down on employers hiring illegals - but they decide to charge this woman within 24 hours?
Bullcrap.
This is shameful.
But with Cindy, it was catch and release.
Watch it Zulu, the bots will be along any second now to accuse you of being a DU disruptor.
McKinney was charged.
I would rather not tolerate allowing anyone that thinks his message is important enough to do that. The message itself is irrelevant - the act was wrong and it must be communicated that such actions have consequences.
I did not see the event but I heard it on the radio and her screams made my blood run cold.
Any judge worth his salt will toss this out on its ear.
There is every right to protest someone verbally - especially a tyrant, and especially when Bush had just told Hu to let his people speak freely.
At worst, this is a disorderly conduct charge. Not this.
Yes, she does. I wonder if Pres. Bush asked Hu about the little 5 year old girl from North Korea who showed up at a Chinese school asking for help and was immediately turned back over to N. Korea and has never been heard from again?
What a disgrace!
Really? Do you have a link?
You mean you want a president who governs my polls rather than leading in the direction he prefers?
Yeah, we can't have a despot be uncomfortable now, can we?
President Hu has already requested that she be shot and that her liver be harvested for a Party member.
This is unacceptable. Would they have done the same to her if she'd help up a sign with the same words she spoke written in chinese?
I certainly doubt it and find the charges against this woman to be an absolute textbook case of 1st amendment rights infringement.
Send an e-mail in support of this woman and in condemnation of this egregiously un-constitutional action at
http://www.theepochtimes.com/contactus.html
By the way, Epoch Times looks like a decent anti-Communist paper. Maybe the President should read some of its articles, it might make him re-assess his opinion of Red China.
And where is the ACLU!?????
Anybody got contact info for a defense fund?
You can NOT compare Falun Gong to al-Queda. Do you even know what you're talking about?
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