A Chinese court has rejected appeals by four Falun Gong followers, upholding the prison sentences they were handed for spreading information about the banned group, official media reported Wednesday.

Reports by the Beijing city government's newspaper and television station were the first official word on the fates of Pang You, Mu Chunyan, Chen Suping and Zhang Lixin. The four are among tens of thousands of Falun Gong members who have been detained since China outlawed the group 17 months ago.

Followers of Falun Gong insist their exercises and philosophy -- drawn from Buddhism, Taoism and [group] founder Li Hongzhi -- promote health and are not political. But the government, fearing Falun Gong's popularity, banned the group [...] in July 1999.

The cases reported Wednesday shed light on the group's resilience and the government's frustrations in suppressing it.

The four whose appeals were rejected had set up a high-tech printing shop in a rural village north of Beijing in August, the Beijing Daily and Beijing Television reported. There, the reports said, they used photocopiers, digital printers and other equipment to produce tens of thousands of pages and 200 video CDs on Falun Gong. They used various means to disseminate the materials, including posting them in public places, the reports said.

Police arrested Pang and Zhang in late September and took the other two into custody shortly thereafter, the reports said.

In an ostensibly public trial on Nov. 11, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate

People's Court convicted the four [...]. Pang was sentenced to eight years in prison, Mu and Chen to seven years and Zhang to three.

The reports singled out Pang for particular criticism. Detained previously and released on parole, Pang continued to take part in Falun Gong activities, participating in a group meditation display in Beijing's Fragrant Hills Park in June, the reports said.

"After the government outlawed the Falun Gong [] and forbid taking part in its activities, (they) still participated in [] activities,'' the Beijing Daily quoted the Beijing Higher People's Court as saying in its Monday ruling on the appeal.

Their claims "that their behavior constitutes no crime and their defense of innocence are untenable,'' the court said.

Beijing Television showed the four sitting impassively as the presiding judge read the decision. Chen, wrapped in a blue military-style overcoat, kept his eyes shut as if in meditation.