BEIJING, Feb 19, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) The practice of locking up dissidents in mental hospitals is much more prevalent in China than previously believed and has become a weapon in the government's battle with the Falun Gong, according to a British academic.

The "scope and intensity" of China's abuse of psychiatry to quell dissent may well have exceeded that in the old Soviet Union, Robin Munro said in an article published in the Columbia Journal of Asian Law.

"A substantial amount of documentary evidence (indicates) that the Chinese authorities have, in fact, a longstanding record of the misuse of psychiatry for politically repressive purposes," according to an extract from the article.

Munro, a researcher at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, is seeking to "challenge and correct" the assumption that the Chinese authorities have never engaged in political misuse of psychiatry.

Since the Falun Gong spiritual movement was banned by Beijing in July 1999,numerous reports have suggested that practitioners have been sent to mental institutions, the extract said.

"The overseas Falun Gong support network has so far compiled details of around 100 named individuals who have been dealt with in this manner, while overall estimates suggest the total number may be as high as 600," the extract said.

The article throws light on a Chinese network of special custodial centers for the "criminally insane," which are allegedly often used to incarcerate political dissidents.

The article claims that politically motivated abuse of psychiatry may actually have worsened in recent years, after a relatively moderate period under late patriarch Deng Xiaoping.

"The 1990s ... appeared to see a significant decrease in politically directed psychiatry in China, only to be followed, at the end of the decade, by a substantial resurgence of abusive practices, notably in the case of Falun Gong detainees," according to the extract.