AP: Two Hong Kong Men Detained in Mainland China While Carrying Falun Gong materials

Wed Jun 12, 6:59 AM ET

By MARGARET WONG, Associated Press Writer

HONG KONG - Two Hong Kong men were detained by Mainland Chinese authorities when they were found to be carrying materials of the banned Falun Gong movement as they entered the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, local followers said Wednesday.

The two men -- security guard Cheung Yu-chong, 58, and a 46-year-old businessman identified only by his surname, Suen -- were seized at the border between Hong Kong and China respectively on May 8 and May 17, said Hong Kong's Falun Gong spokesman, Tony Chan.

Police searched their homes in Shenzhen and confiscated Falun Gong books and video compact discs, Chan said.

Cheung was last heard from on May 24, when he told his son in Hong Kong by phone that he had been caught carrying Falun Gong materials, Chan said.

Police were holding Suen in a Shenzhen police station because he refused to renounce Falun Gong, Chan said. State Security Bureau told Suen's wife that her husband was arrested on suspicion of [spreading] Falun Gong beliefs, he added.

Phone calls to the section responsible for handling Falun Gong cases at the Shenzhen Police Station went unanswered Wednesday afternoon.

Hong Kong Security Bureau spokeswoman Patricia Mok said it has received a request from Cheung's family for assistance. She declined to give further details. Mok added Suen's family had not contacted the bureau.

Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong did not return phone calls from The Associated Press.

Falun Gong is banned on the mainland, where thousands of [practitioners] have been detained since Chinese leaders outlawed the group in July 1999, branding it a threat to communist rule.

[Falun Gong] remains legal in Hong Kong, which has retained Western-style civil liberties since it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Falun Gong [practitioners] frequently hold protests here against the ban on the mainland.

Over 100 Falun Gong members gathered in a downtown park Wednesday, urging the local government to help Cheung and Suen as well as another Hong Kong [practitioner], 45-year-old businessman Chu O-ming.

Chu was arrested together with a Mainland Chinese Falun Gong [practitioner] in Beijing on Sept. 7, 2000 after they filed a lawsuit against President Jiang for the crackdown against the group.

Chu was last known to be held at the Fangshan District Jail in Beijing.

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