Thursday March 15, 12:27 AM

STOCKHOLM, March 14 (AFP) -

Persecuted practitioners of Falungong now living abroad said Wednesday that China's crackdown on the banned spiritual movement was rooted in the [party's name omitted]'s ignorance and fear.

"The major reason (for the crackdown) is the [party's name omitted]. They've never understood Falungong practices. There are no political messages, just spiritual exercises," said Jimmy Zou, a Chinese-born American who spent six days in a Beijing jail last year for performing Falungong exercises.

"The government sees so many people thinking differently than the [party's name omitted], and they are scared that too many people will have a different ideology," he said, adding: "The [party's name omitted] wants to control people's minds."

Jimmy Zou was one of four Chinese guests who spoke Wednesday in Stockholm to help raise awareness about the mistreatment of Falungong supporters and other human rights violations in China.

Beijing views Falungong, which claims more than 70 million adherents in China alone and combines exercise with meditation, as the biggest threat to Communist Party rule since the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests.

It banned the movement as an "[Chinese government's slanderous word]" in July 1999, three months after it gathered 10,000 followers for a silent protest at the [party's name omitted] headquarters in Beijing.

Since then, the government has sentenced hundreds of followers to prison terms of up to 18 years and sent tens of thousands to labour camps without trial, while more than 160 have died while in police custody, according to human rights groups.

But Kunlung Zhang, a 60-year-old Chinese-Canadian practitioner, stressed that the crackdown was not supported by the whole government. Rather, he said, the persecution was led mainly by Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

"Not everyone in the government agrees with the persecution. It is Jiang Zemin himself (who is leading it), because of his own fears," said Zhang, who was released from a Chinese labor camp in January after the Canadian government put pressure on Beijing.

The Falungong members said that despite the regular mistreatment, they would not call for sanctions against Beijing.

Such measures were "totally ruled out", said Mimmi Svensson, a practitioner in Sweden, adding: "Anyone who follows the teachings knows that there is no room for that in Falungong. Instead we appeal to people's hearts to see the truth."

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010314/1/k535.html