By Brian Carnell

Friday, January 5, 2001

In the past couple weeks, four members of the banned Falun Gong religious movement have died while in custody in the People's Republic of China. According to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, two Falun Gong activists in their 30s died after being beaten by police after their arrest. The official cause of death? Heart disease.

Falun Gong members operating outside of China estimate that more than 100 of its members have been killed by Chinese authorities since July 1999.

On December 24, 2000 police informed the families of Xu Bing, 33, and Lou Aiqing, 34, that the two had died of heart disease while being detained. The two were arrested on December 20, 2000 for posting Falun Gong slogans on walls in Shandong province.

From the condition of the corpses, the families surmised the two had died from severe beatings. Chinese police confiscated photographs of the bodies that the families said showed numerous wounds.

Source:

Falun Gong members 'die after beating'. The BBC, January 2, 2000.

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