Falun Gong denies mass suicide

Falun Gong practitioners claim 250 people have died in Chinese custody

By CNN's Kirsty Alfredson

HONG KONG, China -- The Falun Gong is denying reports 16 of its followers have committed suicide in a Chinese labor center, instead saying they were tortured to death.

Members of the outlawed group, which China calls an evil cult, have reportedly died in a mass suicide according to the Hong Kong based Information Center for Human Rights.

It says 16 Falun Gong practitioners hanged themselves in the Harbin labor camp on 20 June after being tortured and authorities increased their period of detention by three to six months.

A Chinese government official said Wednesday 14 Falun Gong members committed suicide at the Wanjia Labor Camp in Heilongjiang Province last month, according to media reports.

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Falun Gong spokesman Frank Lu says police in China confirmed their report.

"We have talked to the family members of those who have committed suicide," Lu told CNN.

"We have also talked to police officers from the native towns of a few of the suicides. They have indicated it was a mass suicide."

The remains were turned over to relatives last week. However, cause of death cannot be determined because the victims have been cremated.

A spate of torture

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The Falun Gong Web site tells a conflicting version of the June incident reporting least 15 female Falun Gong practitioners "died in a spate of violence and torture at the Wanjia Labor Camp in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, China".

"The Wanjia Reeducation Labor Camp claims that the cause of death was that the women committed mass suicide by hanging, but could not explain how this could happen given the fact that the victims were under 24-hour surveillance in the labor camp," the Web site states.

The group named four of the dead women on the site, accusing China of systemic abuse.

Practitioners to recant beliefs

"Some 50 female practitioners who refused to write a "Separation Statement" denouncing Falun Gong were thrown into male prisoners' cells to face abuse" the Falun Gong claims.

"Labor camp guards demanded that they also stand on the cement floor 24 hours a day, tied them up all night long and deprived them of sleep."

Scholars and diplomats tracking the Falun Gong in China say police and prison departments have orders from Beijing to step up pressure on the group.

One goal they say is to ensure more of the estimated 10,000 practitioners in reform through labor camps recant their beliefs.

The group was banned in July 1999 after the government said it was evil and then blamed it for hundreds of deaths among its followers.

Falun Gong says it has no political aspirations. It is based on a Buddhist/Taoist doctrine and subscribes to a set of five physical exercises.

Its leader, Li Hong Zhi, was exiled from China and was last known to be living in the United States.