BEIJING, NOV 8: Chinese police have formally arrested 111 members of the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement on charges ranging from obstruction of the law to stealing state secrets, a cabinet spokesman said on Monday.Those formally arrested did not include others held under various forms of detention, including labour camps, or undergoing anti-Falun Gong education, said Li Bing, deputy head of the information office of the state council, or cabinet.Li said that he had been informed by the police that numbers had not been compiled on a nationwide basis on how many Falun Gong members were under other forms of detention.The majority of Falun Gong practitioners who gathered in Beijing in recent weeks to protest against a new anti-cult law were ``not arrested, but were picked up, given re-education and sent back to their hometowns'', Li said.China outlawed the movement in July and detained some leaders, declared it a cult last month and passed legislation promising jail for its leaders. Li denied reports that some Falun Gong followers were beaten and had died at the hands of police.``There have been no cases of beatings or inhumane treatment in the handling and education of Falun Gong followers,'' he said, adding, ``There have been no deaths of followers during the administration of legal procedures.''Li, reading from police reports, gave the names of three women Falun Gong members who had died since their apprehension for sect activities.Zhao Jinghua and Li Riuhua had previous heart conditions and died of heart failure, he said. Zhao, of Shandong province, had collapsed during questioning and died in the lavatory. Li, of Chongqing, had died in hospital, he said.Chen Ying, an 18-year-old high school student, died after jumping from a train while being sent back to her hometown in Heilongjiang province in the company of local officials, Li said.He said the charges against those formally arrested included stealing state secrets - which could bring the death sentence - using a cult to obstruct the law, disturbing social order and illegal business practices.China has vowed to wipe out Falun Gong - a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism and Qiqong which is designed to harness inner energy and heal - accusing it of challenging Communist Party rule.Authorities say Falun Gong had brainwashed followers and had caused more than 1,400 deaths by refusing to allow followers to get medical treatment.``Some of the victims were seriously ill and wanted to go to hospital, but fellow Falun Gong members blocked them, in some cases, surrounding their houses,''Li said.Beijing has also branded Falun Gong a threat to social and political stability. The group stunned China's leadership on April 25, when more than 10,000 members surrounded emerged from nowhere to sit silently outside the leadership's Zhongnanhai compound to demand official recognition of their faith.Falun Gong denies it is a cult and says it poses no threat to the 60 million-strong Communist Party. Adherents follow US-based Li Hongzhi, who preaches salvation from a world corrupted by science and technology.Li estimated that more than 1,000 sect members had converged on Beijing's Tiananmen Square in recent weeks as Parliament deliberated the anti-cult legislation. Most were from nearby provinces and as many as 60 percent returned to Beijing even after being sent home, he said.
