(Clearwisdom.net) An American linked to the banned Falun Gong spiritual group is due for release from a Chinese prison next week after serving a three-year sentence on charges of sabotaging broadcasting equipment, the U.S. Consulate confirmed Friday.

Charles Li will be set free on Jan. 21 and immediately flown home to the United States, said a spokesman speaking on routine condition of anonymity.

Li, also known as Chuck Lee, was sentenced in March 2003, apparently over one of a series of incidents in which Falun Gong followers interrupted Chinese television broadcasts to show videos protesting the communist government's ban on the group.

His upcoming release was first announced by Falun Gong organizers in the United States who alleged Li had been subject in prison to "beatings, brainwashing, torture, and forced labor."

A resident of Menlo Park, California, Li is known to have staged a hunger strike early on to protest his prison sentence. [...]

Thousands of followers have been detained, and activists say scores have died from police abuse. [...]

January 13, 2006 Friday