China Details Arrests of Sect Members

In the first official release of such statistics, the Chinese government announced Monday that police have formally arrested 111 followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group on criminal charges ranging from stealing state secrets to engaging in illegal business activity.

A spokesman for the State Council, or Cabinet, said the government is employing a range of lesser punishments on a far larger number of followers, which helps explain the significant discrepancy between the official government arrest total and figures cited by human rights groups and Falun Gong followers. The Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China reported Sunday that authorities have sentenced more than 500 people to labor camps just in Hebei province, which borders Beijing.

Most Falun Gong practitioners who have come to Beijing in recent weeks to protest the official ban on their group have not been arrested but rather “picked up, given reeducation and sent back to their hometowns,” said Li Bing, deputy head of the State Council’s information office. He acknowledged that two sect members died while in custody, but he denied allegations that the authorities were responsible.

Local police have applied administrative punishments such as house arrest and “reeducation through labor,” which, under Chinese law, require no trial. Li did not provide statistics on how many Falun Gong followers had been given administrative punishments.

But as officials admit, such measures have not fazed hard-core disciples of the group, which combines Buddhist and Taoist beliefs with deep-breathing exercises. Another State Council official said that more than 60% of the followers sent home by officials later made their way back to the capital.

The 111 arrested as of Thursday face charges of using a cult to obstruct the law, stealing state secrets, “disturbing social order” and engaging in illegal business activity. Many of the stolen secrets mentioned in the state press appear to be government plans on how to deal with Falun Gong, which disciples in government leaked to their brethren.

The officials also denied allegations by human rights groups and Falun Gong followers that local police beat some members to death.

While acknowledging the existence of police brutality in China, Li emphasized that no sect followers have died in police custody.

“There have been no cases of beatings or inhumane treatment in the handling and education of Falun Gong followers,” he said.

Reading from official reports, Li said that Zhao Jinhua, 42, a female disciple who Falun Gong followers said was beaten to death by police, in fact died of a heart attack during her “reeducation.” Li also confirmed the death of 18-year-old student Chen Ying, who jumped to her death from a train while being escorted home by government officials. Li denied reports that Chen was still handcuffed when she jumped.

More than three months after the government outlawed Falun Gong, an intensive propaganda campaign continues to lambaste the group for allegedly bilking followers of money, threatening Communist Party rule and causing at least 1,400 deaths.

On Monday, the military-run Liberation Army Daily reported that a university practitioner in a northeastern city was arrested for posting information on the banned group to a foreign Web site. “The Public Security Bureau in Qiqihar have cracked a case which used the Internet to communicate with foreign Falun Gong Web sites, illegally transmitted information on Falun Gong to Falun Gong exercise stations and disseminated rumors,” the report said.