Chinese Official Denies Jailed Sect Members Were Mistreated

A senior Chinese official denies that members of the outlawed Falun Gong religious group have died in detention as a result of maltreatment or torture by Chinese authorities.

In an interview to be broadcast today, the Chinese Embassy spokesman in Washington, Zhang Yuan Yuan, said those group members who had died in detention were old, sick or had committed suicide.

“People died in detention, that’s true,” he told BBC World Service radio. “I can confirm that Falun Gong followers died in detention. But you have to ask how they died. So there are some who are old, sick and they commit suicide.

“They throw themselves against the wall and got themselves fatally injured, and they refused to eat, refused to take medicine, refused medical attention, and people also died of natural causes,” he said.

Zhang said Chinese policy was to try to change the outlook of Falun Gong members.

Falun Gong members have protested almost daily in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square since the movement was outlawed in 1999, and China’s often harsh treatment of protesters has provoked widespread international concern.

Human rights groups say more than 100 Falun Gong followers have died of police beatings and other abuse. The sect says tens of thousands of its members have been sent to labor camps without trial.