DATE=2/14/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA - FALUN GONG (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259125
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A Hong Kong-based human rights monitor says
140 members of the banned Falun Gong exercise and
meditation movement have staged a hunger strike while
under detention in northeastern China. VOA
correspondent Roger Wilkison reports the human rights
group says at least two of the detainees have not
eaten for nine days.
TEXT: The Information Center for Human Rights and
Democratic Movement in China says most of the detained
Falun Gong members began their hunger strike on
February 4th, the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year.
The Center -- which keeps a close watch on dissident
activities in China -- says the Falun Gong followers
declared the hunger strike to protest their detention
and demand that they be released for the New Year
holiday.
The Center says the hunger strikers are being held at
the Daguang detention camp in the northeastern city of
Changchun. It says some refused to eat for three
days, others for five days. But it says that -- as of
Monday -- at least two people were still observing the
hunger strike.
The human rights monitor quotes one follower, who was
released after refusing to eat for eight days, as
saying the Falun Gong members at the camp were
detained for two reasons. It says some were picked up
for going to Beijing to protest the government's
crackdown on the movement or for practicing Falun Gong
exercises publicly. Others were packed off to the
camp after admitting to police who visited them at
home that they still believed in Falun Gong.
The government banned the group last July, three
months after 10-thousand of its members staged a sit-
down -- in front of the compound where China's leaders
live -- to demand official recognition. Despite the
crackdown and a government-sponsored re-education
campaign, Falun Gong members continue to stage bold
public protests.
The Information Center says two thousand Falun Gong
adherents have been arrested since the Lunar New Year
began and that more than five thousand members have
been sent without trial to labor camps. It also says
about 300 followers have been tried and sentenced to
prison for belonging to what Beijing calls "an evil
cult".
Falun Gong members say their movement helps to promote
health and moral living. (signed)
NEB/RW/FC
14-Feb-2000 03:59 AM EDT (14-Feb-2000 0859 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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