At least 10 Falun Gong followers are reported to have died in a group suicide at a labour camp in northern China. The Hong Kong-based Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said yesterday 16 practitioners attempted suicide by hanging at the camp in the city of Harbin in Heilongjiang province on June 20th.
The suicide attempt came after the detention of Falun Gong members was extended from three to six months. This was to punish them for going on hunger strike in protest at frequent beatings.
An official at a police station told a reporter that `several" Falun Gong followers had died.
A police official at Lequn township in Heilongjiang said one of the people who committed suicide was a 51-year-old woman.
The Centre for Human Rights said in a statement yesterday that local authorities were trying to keep information about the incident from leaking out and it was difficult to confirm all the deaths.
It said on June 15th, 30 Falun Gong members in the camp began a hunger strike to protest against frequent beatings.
A relative of a Falun Gong member who survived told the centre 10 people had died.
In January, five people identified by the government as Falun Gong practitioners attempted suicide by setting themselves on fire in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Two of them died, including a 12-year-old girl.
Since the Chinese government banned Falun Gong as an "evil cult" in July 1999, more than 10,000 Falun Gong members are reported to have been sent to "re-education through labour" camps.
The spiritual group claims physical abuse towards practitioners who refuse to renounce their faith is common in the camps.
In a statement last night the Falun Gong Information Centre claimed 15 female Falun Gong practitioners died in the labour camp in Heilongjiang after being tortured, and that a number of other practitioners are still undergoing emergency treatment for injuries.
The organisation said it would have been impossible for the women to commit mass suicide by hanging as they were under 24-hour surveillance in the labour camp.