|
SCMP: Legislation 'may Target Falun Gong' By Angela Li One of the first targets of new security
legislation might be the Falun Gong rather than
pro-democracy activists and politicians, Human Rights
Monitor predicts.
In its latest report, the human rights watchdog notes
that as the conflict between the spiritual group and
Beijing continues for a third year, the mainland
Government has a variety of methods, including the
state security provisions of the Chinese Criminal
Code, to suppress the movement.
"The use of state security provisions is an excellent
example of political repression by law: the peaceful
communication, protest and spiritual practice of Falun
Gong is 'illegal' under the Criminal Code, despite the
largely peaceful and non-political character of most
Falun Gong activity," the report said. On the mainland, members of heretical organisations
who steal state secrets are liable to the death
penalty or life imprisonment. Human Rights Monitor was concerned that, in contrast
with international standards, "state secrets" includes
material that does not compromise national security,
including government documents and regulations on the
crackdown against Falun Gong members. In one case, Xu Xinmu, a personnel officer for the
city of Shijiazhuang in Hebei province, was sentenced
to four years in prison for contacting fellow Falun
Gong practitioners over the Internet to warn them of a
forthcoming crackdown by the Government. "It is unlikely that such flagrant abuse of the law
would happen in Hong Kong. Yet if Chief Executive Tung
Chee-hwa's comments on Falun Gong are to be taken
seriously, then there is cause for concern that the
SAR Government may try to accomplish the same thing on
a lesser scale," the report said. [...] The human rights watchdog warns that the SAR
Government would find itself under pressure to come up
with a method of its own to keep the spiritual group
under control if Beijing became unhappy that the [group]
was still active in Hong Kong.
http://www.europeaninternet.com/frames/frames.php3?webnewsid=602708
Posting date: 8/23/2001 |