August 21, 2001

WASHINGTON, Aug 21, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) U.S.-based Falun Gong practitioners, who have launched a hunger strike in solidarity with jailed comrades in China, accused President Jiang Zemin on Monday of masterminding a "vicious" crackdown on their banned group.

Ten activists endured a third day without food in support of 130 Falun Gong practitioners they say are being held in Masanjia labor camp in China's Liaoning Province who launched their own hunger strike three weeks ago.

"Jiang Zemin has secretly ordered a vicious policy to defame Falun Gong practitioners reputations, to break them financially and destroy them physically," said activist Shean Li, during a press conference outside China's embassy in Washington.

"In the past two years, Jiang's regime has systematically carried out nationwide terrorism against Falun Gong practitioners."

The 10 hunger strikers, mostly Chinese exiles now living in the United States, have set themselves up on a grassy square shaded by trees opposite the Chinese embassy, a frequent site of anti-Beijing protests.

They said they tried to deliver letters asking for a meeting with Chinese Ambassador Yang Jiechi, but have been rebuffed by embassy staff.

Falun Gong combines [Buddha] philosophy and slow-motion meditation exercises, and advocates say it promotes clean living and good health.

It was banned by the Chinese government in July 1999 in a move seen by many analysts as a sign that top leaders feared its ability to mobilize vast numbers of protesters following their neutering of the democracy movement.

On Sunday, Chinese state media said Beijing courts sentenced 45 Falun Gong followers to up to 13 years in prison.

[...] Human rights groups say that hundreds of Falun Gong followers have been sentenced to jail terms and tens of thousands sent to labor camps. More than 100 are reported to have died from brutality in police detention.

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