Banned Chinese sect appeals for UN support

"This is serious human rights persecution," said the group’s letter to the UN commission, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

The UN Human Rights Commission, meeting in Geneva, is to vote on Tuesday on a resolution criticising China.

Chinese authorities have seized some 3,000 businesses belonging to the 400,000-member group and dollars 95 million, the Information Centre said in a statement.

Some 600 members have been held since October, and 25 of its leaders formally arrested, according to Amnesty International, another human rights group. The founder of Zhong Gong is reported to be in hiding.

Both Zhong Gong and Falun Gong are variants of qigong, traditional Chinese exercise and meditation meant to promote health and spiritual harmony. Millions of Chinese practice forms of qigong.

China’s communist leaders are trying to crush quasi-religious sects, fortune-telling, idol worship and other beliefs deemed superstitious. These traditions continue in rural China.

Meanwhile, police also beat and detained a Falun Gong member on Tiananmen Square in central Beijing on Sunday, where security is tight after several protests by sect members.