Media Reports: Over 10 Falun Gong Practitioners Died at the Wanjia Labor Camp

AFP: Ten Dead [suddenly] at Chinese Labor Camp

Jul 3, 2001

BEIJING -- At least 10 Falun Gong followers died [...] at a labor camp in northern China, a human rights group said Tuesday.

Sixteen practitioners [were tortured] at the camp in the city of Harbin in Heilongjiang province on June 20, said the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

The center said the mass [tragedy] came after the practitioners' detention was extended from three to six months to punish them for a hunger strike in protest at frequent beatings.

A man who survived the mass [tragedy] said more than 10 people died, the center said.

An official at the nearest police station to the Wanjia Labor Camp confirmed to AFP that "several" Falun Gong followers had died, although he declined to give details.

"We were told (by the camp) several of them died, but they didn't tell us how many," said the police official at Lequn township in Shuangcheng.

http://www.europeaninternet.com/china/news.php3?id=518809^oion=default

BBC: Falun Gong members 'stage mass [tragedy]'

July 3, 2001

A Hong Kong-based human rights group says at least 10 members of the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement in China have died in a mass [tragedy] at a labour camp.

The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy says the [tragedy] took place at a camp in Harbin in northeast China after the authorities increased a group of Falun Gong members' period in detention from three to six months.

It is alleged Falun Gong members had been staging a hunger strike at the camp after a series of beatings.

The authorities in China have yet to comment on the Hong Kong group's report.

The Falun Gong movement says that more than 200 of its members have died in detention in China.

[...]

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_1420000/1420278.stm