10/30/00 (New York)

BEIJING, Oct 30 (AFP) - Six more followers of the Falungong spiritual movement have died in Chinese police detention, the movement and a human rights group said Monday.

The deaths bring to more than 60 the number of group members who are reported to have died in suspicious circumstances in police custody since the Falungong was banned in July last year.

Wang Bin, a 47-year-old computer engineer in northeastern Heilongjiang province died early this month after police beat him for three hours, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said.

The beating, which took place at a correctional facility in Daqing late last month, broke several bones in Wang's body, blinded him in the left eye, and punctured an artery in his throat.

Xie Guiying, a 32-year-old woman from Huainan city in eastern Anhui province, died on October 18, one day after she was beaten while refusing arrest, the center said.

Liu Yucai, a resident of northeastern Jilin province aged 60, was one among hundreds of Falungong followers arrested for demonstrating in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on the October 1 National Day, according to the center.

He died five days later in a Beijing detention center, severe injuries to his ribs and neck suggesting he had been beaten to death, the center said.

Police and prison authorities refused all comment on the three cases.

Three other cases reported on Monday were from the area around Dalian city in northeastern Liaoning province, a hotbed of Falungong activity.

Zou Wenzhi, 54, a worker at a chemical plant under Dalian Dahua Group, died shortly after being taken into custody on October 16, said a Falungong member.

Factory executives immediately started spreading rumors that Zou had committed suicide, and sent his body to the mortuary where it was cremated, he said.

Both the factory and police in Dalian refused to make any comment.

In the second case, 50-year-old Dong Yongwei from a village near Dalian died hours after being released from 12 days of detention in early August, he said.

Dong's body was covered in bruises and he was unable to speak on his release, said the source.

The third fatality, a 64-year-old woman named Wang Youju, was a former principal of a public health school in Wafangdian, a city about 75 kilometers (45 miles) north of Dalian, the Falungong follower said.

Wang was detained on July 22, and died of a heart attack nine days later in a Wafangdian detention center.

An official at Wang's former school contacted Monday by AFP confirmed she had died of a heart attack, but declined further comment.

China's communist government sees the Falungong as the biggest threat to its one-party rule since the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests and banned the movement in July 1999.

On October 30, 1999, China's legislature formally labelled the group an "XX," opening the way for a further crackdown.

Members of the spiritual group follow the Buddhist-inspired teachings of their exiled guru Li Hongzhi, who advocates clean living and group morning exercises that involve traditional Chinese breathing routines.

Since Falungong was banned 62 members have died in custody, according to the Hong Kong-based right center, which has not included the three Dalian cases in its count.

Some 450 members have received prison sentences of up to 18 years, more than 600 have been sent to mental hospitals, 10,000 have been placed in labor camps and another 20,000 locked up in temporary detention centers, according to the rights center.