Hong Kong Bars More Than 100 Practitioners from Entry; US Wants to Know Why

Monday May 7 9:33 PM ET

HONG KONG (AP) - Authorities reportedly barred at least 95 Falun Gong followers from entering Hong Kong ahead of an appearance Tuesday by Chinese President Jiang Zemin - prompting some critics to accuse them of doing Beijing's bidding at the expense of free speech.

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"Why are people afraid of different voices, just to please one person, who's a human rights abuser?" asked Falun Gong spokeswoman Sophie Xiao. "We'll still deliver our message. I don't think it will affect us, but it affects Hong Kong's image."

Falun Gong is outlawed as an "[Chinese government's slanderous term omitted]" in mainland [...] China. But the meditation and exercise [group] remains legal in Hong Kong, much to the consternation of local pro-Beijing politicians. The handling of Falun Gong could prove a crucial test of the Western-style freedoms left in place after Britain returned Hong Kong to China nearly four years ago.

Pro-democracy campaigners maintain that any restriction on Falun Gong could erode Hong Kong's freedoms.

As Jiang and other dignitaries, including former President Clinton, gather for the Fortune Global Forum from Tuesday through Thursday, Hong Kong is letting Falun Gong practice its exercises in local parks.

But Falun Gong was outraged Monday when more than 80 followers, 46 of them from Taiwan, were stopped by immigration authorities at Chek Lap Kok airport, Falun Gong spokeswoman Hui Yee-han said early Tuesday. Others were from the United States, Australia and Singapore, she said.

Ten others had been banned earlier, mostly this past weekend.

At least 30 people were still being detained at the airport early Tuesday, Xiao said. More than 150 followers gathered early Tuesday in several Hong Kong parks, practicing their slow-motion exercises to Chinese music and accusing Beijing of the torture and killings of 202 followers in mainland China.

"It's very bad to manage our immigration controls in a way to fulfill the political aims of mainland China," said Law Yuk-kai, director of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor.

According to Law, Hong Kong officials had no legal basis for keeping out Falun Gong followers.

Frank Lu, who runs the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, said Hong Kong authorities had violated the human rights of Falun Gong followers by targeting them because of their religious beliefs. Lu said he was drafting a complaint to the United Nations.

Hong Kong immigration officials have disputed charges they are keeping a blacklist of Falun Gong adherents, but they declined to say how many people were being kept out of Hong Kong or for what reasons. No one has been excluded for being a Falun Gong member, the officials have said.

Jiang's visit is drawing a myriad of protests, although no one is expecting the sort of disruptions that marred global economic conferences in Seattle and Quebec.

Chinese authorities have banned the Asian edition of Time, a corporate cousin of Fortune magazine, sponsor of the forum. The magazine is edited in Hong Kong and is still being distributed here.

"We're disappointed and we think it's wrong," Time Inc. spokesman Peter Costiglio said in New York City of the ban.

While activists will be clamoring for full democracy in Hong Kong and some mainland Chinese citizens will demand the right to live here, the greatest attention is focused on Falun Gong.

About 15 Taiwanese Falun Gong followers got into Hong Kong early Monday, but another one said by telephone from the airport that she was having trouble gaining entry Monday evening. Dozens more allegedly were stopped later.

"They're holding me and won't let me talk," said Huang Chun-mei. "They've searched all my luggage."

Twenty-one Falun Gong followers peacefully marched from a park to government offices Monday afternoon, displaying a sign that said: "Jiang Zemin, stop persecuting Falun Gong."