BEIJING, Dec 1, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Two more followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement have died in Chinese police detention, police sources and a human rights group said Friday.

The deaths bring to at least 72 the number of group members who are reported to have died in suspicious circumstances while in police custody, since the Falun Gong was banned in July last year, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

Kong Qinghuang, 33, a resident of Jianshui county in southwestern Yunnan province, died in hospital on September 3 after force-feeding by police, said a local police officer, who identified himself as Zhou.

Kong, a former deputy head of the county's Linan township, was arrested after demonstrating in Tiananmen Square in June, and had been on several hunger strikes in the following months, according to the Hong Kong-based center.

In another incident, 42-year-old Meng Qingxi, from the area near Weifang city in eastern Shandong province, died on November 20 after almost two months in detention, the center said in a statement.

After Meng was locked up in a detention center in Mucun village in late September, village authorities demanded a fine of 2000 yuan (241 dollars) be paid for his release.

His family could not afford to pay that amount, and as a consequence, they never saw him alive again.

When Meng's relatives saw his body, shortly before its forced cremation, it was covered in bruises, according to the center.

China's communist government sees the Falun Gong 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 [...] opening the way for a further crackdown.

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

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. ((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)

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