Courts in Beijing have sentenced six members of the banned Falun Gong meditation practice to up to six years in prison. Beijing Legal Times reported that the six were convicted in four separate cases that came before courts in the Beijing districts of Chaoyang and Xuanwu recently.
They were sentenced for the crime of "organising a heretical cult", the paper said, but provided no other details. Chinese President, Jiang Zemin, banned the Falun Gong in July 1999.
Since the ban was put in place, at least 450 practitioners have been sent to prison for up to 18 years. According to the Falun Dafa Information Centre, 263 practitioners have died in police custody since 1999.
Another 10,000 have reportedly been sent for "re-education through labour" and 600 to mental hospitals. Among those in labour camps is Zhao Ming, a post-graduate student from Trinity College Dublin, who was arrested while on a Christmas visit to China in 1999.
