Reuters: U.S. Cites China's Crackdown on Religion in Rights Report [Excerpt]

Tuesday March 5, 2002

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

[...]

The United States has consistently criticized China's human rights record and particularly its intolerance of a broad range of religions. In a visit to China last month, President George W. Bush urged Beijing to expand religious freedoms, saying religion was not something to be feared.

The report highlighted China's "harsh and comprehensive" campaign against the Falun Gong spiritual group, which was banned in 1999, and said thousands of Falun Gong followers were serving sentences in labour camps.

There have been numerous credible reports of abuse and even killings of Falun Gong practitioners and torture using electric shock, the report said.

Various sources reported that since 1997, about 200 or more Falun Gong supporters had died while in police custody and that many of their bodies bore signs of severe beatings or torture or were cremated before relatives could examine them.

[...]

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/reuters/asia-92891.html