(Clearwisdom.net)

On February 18, 2002, Radio Free Asia reported from Hong Kong that six Tsinghua University students were convicted for opposing the Falun Gong ban on the Internet.

On Monday, according to a report from a Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, 6 Tsinghua University students, including Lin Yang and Ma Yan, were tried last September by Xiangzhou District court of Zhuhai city, and charged with "violating the law through assisting an XX." However, their sentencing was delayed due to U.S. President George Bush's arrival. Since July 2000 these 6 students were collecting information about the persecution of Falun Gong, and posting this information on an overseas website. They were arrested in November 2000 and tried in September 2001. The Xiangzhou District court confirmed that they were tried.

The Hong Kong-based Information Center added that at least 300 Tsinghua University professors or students have been temporarily detained or sent to labor camps in connection with Falun Gong activities since the persecution of the group began in July 1999. In December 2001, four other students (two of whom were Ph.D. candidates) were given terms of up to 12 years in prison by an intermediate court in Beijing on the same charge.