August 9, 2001

BEIJING, Aug 9, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) Courts in the Chinese capital have sentenced six members of the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement to up to six years in prison, state media said Thursday.

The six were convicted in four separate cases that came before courts in the Beijing districts of Chaoyang and Xuanwu recently, the Beijing Legal Times reported.

They were sentenced for... "organizing a [Jiang Zemin government's slanderous terms omitted]," the paper said, but provided no other details.

Since the Falun Gong was banned two years ago, at least 450 practitioners have been sent to prison for up to 18 years. Another 10,000 have reportedly been sent for "re-education through labor" and 600 to mental hospitals.

A total of 156 have died in police custody, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy. ((c) 2001 Agence France Presse)

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