6/10/2002

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) Two days before a visit by China's president, a German student said customs officials in Iceland detained him at the airport Monday and questioned him about the Falun Gong movement.

Johann Benediktsson, commissioner of police and customs at Keflavik Airport, confirmed that Peter Recknagel of Frankfurt had been held and then released. ''He was asked some questions and then he was told he was free to leave,'' said Benediktsson.

Iceland has barred all Falun Gong [practitioners] from entering the country in an effort to prevent a large demonstration against Chinese President Jiang Zemin [...]

Falun Gong [practitioners] say it is a peaceful meditation movement and that hundreds of [practitioners] have died as a result of police abuse and torture during the Chinese crackdown. Recknagel, who is studying for a masters degree in Chinese at the University of Frankfurt, said he was detained for nearly six hours.

''They confiscated my mobile phone, my money and basically told me I was being arrested. They said that most likely I would be sent back tomorrow (Tuesday) morning to Frankfurt,'' the 30-year-old Recknagel said.

Hundreds of foreign Falun Gong [practitioners] were due in Iceland to protest Jiang's visit, which runs through June 16.

Icelandic embassies around the world have been told to suspend visas for Falun Gong [practitioners] until June 18, and the government has cleared a school to be used as a detention center for [practitioners] who try to come to Iceland.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/161/world/German_detained_in_Iceland_say:.shtml