September 3, 2001

IN its 2001 World Report, Human Rights Watch documented ongoing human rights violations and political oppression by the Chinese State.

[...] Falun Gong: The government's campaign to crush the Falun Gong spiritual movement continued unabated and was extended to other organised meditation groups.

Trials of at least eight Falun Gong leaders in November and December 1999 resulted in prison sentences ranging between two and 18 years, and trials of other members continued into 2000.

[...] Many detentions came as a result of silent, peaceful protests.

On National Day, on October 1, and the days following, Chinese security forces beat and detained scores of protesters in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

By late October, Falun Gong practitioners were claiming that more than fifty members had died in detention or as a result of mistreatment.

[...]