BEIJING, Aug 10, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) About 130 members of the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement have been on hunger strike for more than 10 days at a labor camp in northeast China, the group said Friday.

The hunger strikers, inmates of the Masanjia camp in Liaoning province, are protesting against the camp authorities' decision to keep them beyond their original terms, according to the Falun Dafa Information center, a Falun Gong news service.

An official at the camp contacted by AFP by telephone denied the report.

[...]

The Falun Gong news service said the refusal to release the group's practitioners stemmed from a directive issued by the Liaoning judicial authorities.

The Falun Gong said the Masanjia camp was notorious for its brutal treatment of inmates.

It cited reports that camp officers allegedly stripped 18 female Falun Gong practitioners naked and threw them into the cells of male convicts.

The camp official contacted by AFP declined to comment on the report.

Since the Falun Gong was banned two years ago, tens of thousands of practitioners have been sent to "re-education through labor" camps and hundreds have been given prison sentences.

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)

http://www.europeaninternet.com/support/article.php3?id=588392

Posting date: 8/11/2001
Original article date: 8/10/2001
Category: News & Media Reports

 Yearly Archive  Printer Version

_____Related Articles_____ Exposing the Living Hell  [8/11/2001] 130 Falun Gong Practitioners on Second Week of Hunger Strike [8/11/2001] ABC(Australia): Banned spiritual group turns to hunger strike in China [8/11/2001] AP: Falun Gong:130 Detained Members On Hunger Strike In China [8/11/2001] Three Cases of Torture of Falun Gong Practitioners by Female Guards at the Masanjia Labor Camp  [8/7/2001] Exposing the Horrendous, Inhuman Torture of Female Falun Dafa Practitioners at the Masanjia Labor Camp [7/9/2001] Testimony about The Crimes Committed in the Masanjia Labor Camp  [7/8/2001] A Female Practitioner Conquers the Evil of Masanjia by Using Steadfast Righteous Thoughts [7/6/2001] Firmly Believing in Dafa and Walking Out of the Demons' Den [6/27/2001] Masanjia Labor Camp's Evil Deeds Bring Drought Disaster to Liaoning Province [6/23/2001]