By Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, July 4, 2001; Page A14
BEIJING, July 3 -- At least 10 members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual
movement have died in a reeducation camp in what authorities told
family members was a group suicide, according to reports from a Hong
Kong-based human rights group and overseas Falun Gong officials.
Lan Jingli, a provincial judicial official, denied the report, saying
11 female Falun Gong members attempted to commit suicide by hanging
themselves from their bunk beds with bed sheets at the Wanjia labor
camp, but only three died after all were rushed to a hospital. Earlier,
Lan said 25 members attempted suicide and 11 died, according to the
Associated Press.
He said guards were not watching the women when they attempted to
kill themselves.
Frank Lu, director of the Information Center for Human Rights and
Democracy, said 16 practitioners tried to hang themselves on June
20 after their sentences were extended for staging a hunger strike
to protest beatings by guards.
Falun
Gong officials in the United States said at least 15 female practitioners
died in the camp and family members saw strangulation or rope marks
on the bodies of two of the dead women. But the group disputed the
report of suicides, saying the women were tortured to death in separate
incidents and authorities were lying to cover it up.
"Our main concern is that these people were being held illegally.
Whatever happened to them is the responsibility of the Chinese government,"
said Adam Montanaro, a spokesman for Falun Gong
Officials at the labor camp did not return phone calls and China's
state-run media have not reported any of the deaths.
Human
rights groups say more than 150 Falun Gong members have been beaten
or tortured to death since July 1999, when China labeled the Buddhist-like
spiritual movement an "evil cult" and launched an intense
campaign to eradicate it. The government has acknowledged some of
the deaths, but has attributed them to suicides or medical conditions.
Lu said about 30 Falun Gong practitioners in the Wanjia labor camp
began a hunger strike on June 15 to protest frequent beatings, and
camp officials responded by extending their sentences by three to
six months. He said the suicides occurred five days later. Lu said
his group was unable to learn exactly how many practitioners had died
but that a family member of one survivor reported at least 10 were
dead and a police official confirmed "many people" had died.
Falun Gong spokeswoman Gail Rachlin said other family members reported
at least 15 female practitioners had died. She said these family members
said the women were tortured to death and many had been transferred
to the male section of the camp for abuse.
The group said relatives of one of the dead women, Zhao Yayun, 54,
reported finding bruises on her face, shoulder blades and lower back
and strangulation or rope marks on her neck. Relatives of another
dead woman, Zhang Yulan, 55, also reported seeing deep strangulation
marks, the group said.