July 5 2001 17:15 (Aus time) BEIJING -- China confirmed that 14 female practitioners of Falun Gong died in a Chinese labor camp, but how they died remains disputed - highlighting the growing divide between the government and the spiritual movement in their two-year-old standoff.

The government's version of what happened inside the Wanjia labor camp stood at odds with that of Falun Gong activists based in the U.S. In Beijing, China's State Council, or cabinet, said in a statement that 11 women collectively attempted to commit suicide early June 21 by ripping bedsheets into strips and hanging themselves.

Three of them died, the State Council said. But an official with the Heilongjiang Justice Department, which oversees the labor camp, gave a different version. Lan Jingli, head of the department's executive office, said 25 prisoners took part in the suicide on June 20, with 14 dying, The Associated Press reported.

China's government has previously denied that any Falun Gong adherents have died from abuse in custody, alleging suicide or death from natural causes even when evidence showed otherwise. But while the government said the latest deaths were the result of suicide, Falun Gong activists in the U.S. said there were clear signs of abuse and coverup by Wanjia officials.

"These women were tortured, brutalized," said Gail Rachlin, a spokeswoman for Falun Gong in New York. Statements issued by Ms. Rachlin, citing relatives of those who died, said some bodies were cremated before family members could see them. The statements also said some relatives were given only a brief glimpse of the corpse and that labor camp officials asked family members to sign a statement disavowing the prison's responsibility for the deaths.

In one instance, Falun Gong activists said relatives allowed to see the body of Zhao Yayun - whose death was confirmed by an official in her home village of Lequn Commune - found bruises and injuries on her face, neck, arms and lower back. Even if she did commit suicide, one Falun Gong activist said, Ms. Zhao was likely driven to it "to protest the torture."

That interpretation adds to growing evidence that the struggle between the government and Falun Gong is still intensifying. After alleged Falun Gong members set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square earlier this year, officials say President Jiang Zemin renewed pressure on police and local officials to eradicate the group. And in recent months Falun Gong has reported a pronounced rise in the death toll, now at more than 233.

At the same time, Falun Gong members, who have evaded the dragnet, have gone deeper underground, with one official estimating that about 1,000 practitioners remain unaccounted for, roaming the country and unable to return home for fear of arrest.

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