Yahoo!
News Home - Yahoo! - My Yahoo! - News Alerts - Help

Associated
Press

Click Here for Wingspanbank.com

 Home  |  Top Stories  |  Business  |  Tech  |  Politics  |  World  |  Local  |  Entertainment  |  Sports  |  Science  |  Health 

World Headlines
MyAdd to My Yahoo!

Thursday March 30 9:24 AM ET

Group: Falun Gong Man Sentenced

BEIJING (AP) - A university classmate of China's vice president has been sentenced to two years in a labor camp for his involvement with the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, a human rights group reported Thursday.

Zhang Mengye, an assistant professor at an engineering school in the southern province of Guangdong, was arrested in Beijing in January, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China.

It said that at the time of his arrest Zhang was visiting Beijing, hoping to appeal to his former classmate, Vice President Hu Jintao, for an end to the government's crackdown on Falun Gong, which was banned last July.

 Speak your mind
Discuss this story with other people.
[Start a Conversation]

(Requires Yahoo! Messenger)
According to officials at Zhang's school, his sentence to labor re-education indicates he has been deemed a ``backbone element,'' or organizer, within Falun Gong, the Information Center said.

Falun Gong claims members within the Communist Party, army and academic community. The widely popular movement, which Chinese leaders fear is a threat to Communist Party rule, has proved difficult to eradicate despite a massive eradication campaign and jail sentences of up to 18 years for people accused of being key organizers.

Both Zhang and Hu entered the Water Conservancy Department of Beijing's elite Qinghua University in 1959, the Information Center said. Hu, 57, is the youngest among the Communist Party's inner circle and is considered the most likely candidate to succeed President Jiang Zemin when he steps down in 2003.

In a related development, the Information Center said police in the southern city of Shenzhen were holding in custody one Hong Kong member of Falun Gong and three members holding Australian passports. The four were among seven people seized on March 4 by police in Shenzhen, a boomtown just across the border from Hong Kong.

Unknown numbers of Falun Gong members holding foreign passports have traveled to China since the government ban was announced in July. Some have been arrested after attempting to protest in Beijing's Tiananmen Square or elsewhere. Most have since been deported.

E-mail this story  |  Printer-friendly format


Full Coverage
See a Yahoo! special report on
China
Related News Stories
· Chinese president's nephew caught up in 1.4 million dollar scandal - AFP (Mar 31, 2000)
· WTO Membership Imperils China's Industrial Dinosaurs - Washington Post (Mar 30, 2000)
· In China's southwest, the Naxi minority culture meets tourism - Christian Science Monitor (Mar 29, 2000)
· Two Families--but No Place to Call Home - Los Angeles Times (Mar 29, 2000)
· Fire claims 74 lives in central China - AFP (Mar 29, 2000)
More In Full Coverage
Related Web Sites
· China Today - information on government, art and entertainment, trade, finance, education, and more.
· China: Moving slowly onto centre stage - interactive map of China's history under communism, RealAudio interviews with Tiananmen dissidents, news, analysis, and more. From Out There News.
· China Internet Information Center - get news and read Chinese government white papers, including ones on human rights, Tibet, and arms controls and disarmament.
· China: 10 Years After Tiananmen - interviews on Tiananmen Square with Chinese democracy activists. From Human Rights Watch.
· China: The Awkward Superpower - analysis and news from Time.com.
More In Full Coverage
Opinion & Editorials
· My 'Rights' In China - Washington Post (Mar 29, 2000)
· China vs. China - CBN News (Mar 27, 2000)
· The China Challenge - Washington Post (Mar 24, 2000)
Magazine Articles
· Why China will get democracy too - (Mar 22, 2000)
· Palace Intrigues - Newsweek (Mar 7, 2000)
· Face Up to Political Reform - Asiaweek (Mar 3, 2000)
Audio
· 800-thousand year-old stone tools discovered in southern China - NPR (Mar 3, 2000)
· "Nanking remains a controversial subject" - BBC (Jan 23, 2000)
· Chinese city corruption includes high-level officials - NPR (Jan 22, 2000)
More In Full Coverage
Video
· Thousands of Falun Gong have been arrested - BBC (Oct 30, 1999)
· Tensions mount between Chinese authorities and Falun Gong - CNN (Oct 29, 1999)
· China arrests defiant Falun Gong members - CNN (Oct 29, 1999)
Message Boards
· Zhaodaola Internet
Related Full Coverage
· China - Taiwan Relations
· China Economy
· China-US Relations
· Hong Kong News
· Macau Handover
Yahoo! Categories
· China
· Chinese Government
· Falun Gong
More In Full Coverage


Advanced
Search:  Stories   Photos   Full Coverage

Mar 30 | Mar 29 | Mar 28 | Mar 27 | Mar 26 | Mar 25 | Mar 24 | Mar 23 | Mar 22 | Mar 21

 Home  |  Top Stories  |  Business  |  Tech  |  Politics  |  World  |  Local  |  Entertainment  |  Sports  |  Science  |  Health 


Questions or Comments
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.