Falun Gong says five members die in Chinese custody - Falun Gong practitioners meditate outside government headquarters in Hong Kong on August 24. The U.S.-based Falun Dafa Information Centre said on August 31 five adherents of the movement had died in Chinese police custody. REUTERS/Kin Cheung

Friday August 31, 12:37 PM

BEIJING (Reuters) - Five more adherents of the Falun Gong spiritual movement have died in Chinese custody following severe abuse, the group's U.S.-based information centre said on Friday.

The five, all women, died in detention centres or police custody and there were some witness reports of beating and torture, the Falun Dafa Information Centre said in a statement.

No comment was immediately available from authorities in any of the five cities where the deaths were reported to have occurred.

The information centre cited witnesses as saying one woman from the southern province of Fujian had a gaping hole in her midriff at the time of death and public security officials quickly cremated the body.

Her family members were told to keep her death a secret.

One woman from the northeastern province of Jilin died under suspicious circumstances despite official claims of suicide, the centre said.

The family of a woman from the northeastern province of Heilongjiang said she was beaten unconscious and denied medical help.

Several of the victims were arrested for possessing Falun Gong material or for spreading information on members' plight, the centre said.

Chinese authorities have acknowledged several deaths of Falun Gong members in custody, but say most resulted from suicide or illness.

Falun Gong has said more than 50,000 practitioners have been sent to prisons, labour camps and mental hospitals since China banned the group in 1999.

Human rights groups estimate some 200 Falun Gong adherents have died from torture during detention in China.

Falun Gong, branded an "[Jiang Zemin government's slanderous term omitted]" by Beijing, was banned in 1999 after members stunned top leaders with a mass [appeal] around the Zhongnanhai leadership compound to demand official recognition of their faith.

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http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010831/3/1dwoi.html