Thursday November 22 2001

Lillian Staff, a follower of Falun Gong, arrived back at Heathrow last night after her arrest and expulsion from China. Ms Staff, 25, spent 21 hours in custody in Beijing after being arrested with 32 other Westerners in Tiananmen Square. Falun Gong is a worldwide group that practises meditation with a strong spiritual emphasis.

A Swede who lives in London, she said that she had been detained by [party's name omitted] officials after her group began meditating yesterday afternoon and told that she could not return to China for five years. "We were there to highlight the suppression of a peaceful movement by the state," she said.

Thousands of Chinese people who practise Falun Gong have been arrested and more than 300 killed in detention for their commitment to the practice.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-2001542099,00.html