February 17, 2002

BEIJING, Feb 17 (AFP) - Three Swedish followers of the Falun Gong spiritual group -- among six remaining in Chinese detention after a high-profile protest in Beijing -- will be allowed to leave China early this week, the Swedish embassy said.

"Two will be leaving China tomorrow, and one on Tuesday," an embassy official told AFP Sunday. Embassy staff had said earlier in the day that all three would leave Monday.

The six have been kept in Chinese custody after being part of a demonstration Thursday on Tiananmen Square by 59 foreign Falun Gong members. The 53 others were deported Friday.

Police arrested the foreign demonstrators when they unfurled banners and shouted Falun Gong slogans in protest at a Chinese ban of the movement.

The protesters were tackled to the ground and dragged into police vans. Some were physically mistreated or verbally abused after their arrest, according to an AFP reporter present at the scene.

It was the largest-ever demonstration by foreign Falun Gong members in Beijing and followed a smaller protest by an American and Canadian adherent on Tiananmen earlier in the week.

The three detained Swedes were identified in Falun Gong press releases as Ulrik Dahlgren, 31, Petter Schiller, 32, and Christian Nilsson, 21.

"I hope my peaceful appeal as a Swede on Tiananmen Square can break through the false facade and let the world see clearly what Falun Gong practitioners in China have gone through in the past years," Nilsson said before the protest, according to Falun Gong's Swedish website.

The German embassy confirmed Sunday the six Falun Gong adherents still in Chinese custody included a German citizen, identified as Andre Huber, but could not say if his release was imminent.

"We hope we will find a solution within the next 48 hours," a German diplomat said.

The nationality of the two others still in custody was unclear.

The six had initially refused to reveal their nationalities or present any form of identification and were detained by Beijing police for further investigation, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.

"I understand that... they hid their passports," said Peter Jauhal, a UK-based spokesman of the Falun Gong.

"The protest was very loosely organized and maybe some of them had agreed among themselves to (refuse to identify themselves)."

[...]

The six were being kept in a hotel or similar facility near Beijing's international airport, according to a diplomat.

Thursday's protest came a week before US President George W. Bush was due to visit Beijing and put the spotlight on human rights and religious freedom -- topics expected to figure in his talks with Chinese leaders.

The White House said it was "concerned" at the arrests and promised Bush would raise the issue in Beijing.

[...]