Tue Aug 13, 2002

HONG KONG - A magistrate is set to pass judgment on 16 Falun Gong followers charged with obstruction in a protest outside the Chinese government liaison office here, and critics warned Tuesday that Hong Kong's freedoms could suffer.

Opposition lawmakers and human rights activists call the prosecution of the Falun Gong practitioners, including four Swiss and one New Zealand citizen, a politically motivated, blatant attempt by Hong Kong's government to please Beijing.

"They want to stretch the law and bend it to their politics, to satisfy the wishes of the Chinese officials stationed in Hong Kong, to save them from this kind of embarrassment," said Law Yuk-kai, director of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, a non-governmental organization.

The Falun Gong practitioners say they did nothing wrong when they demonstrated outside the Chinese office on March 14 and dozens of members of the meditation [group] have been marching and refusing food this week to protest the verdicts to be announced Thursday morning.

The demonstration in March attacked China's attempts to eradicate Falun Gong in the mainland,[...]. The protesters were arrested in a scuffle with Hong Kong police after ignoring warnings to move their demonstration away from the front of the building.

Nine of the defendants face the more serious charge of obstructing police and three are accused of assaulting police -- in Hong Kong's first-ever criminal case against Falun Gong practitioners.

Falun Gong has characterized the case as nothing more than trumped-up charges seeking to stifle Falun Gong without directly attacking its message. The group remains legal in Hong Kong, a former British colony which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 but still retains many Western-style civil liberties.

Magistrate Symon Wong finished hearing arguments last week, following a drawn-out trial that began in June, and said he would deliver verdicts on Thursday morning.

Police say the Falun Gong followers were arrested only because they were causing an obstruction. The demonstration blocked only part of a sidewalk, however, in a city where congestion is commonplace.

"If this demonstration has to be censored by the law, then no other demonstrations could proceed properly," said Law, the human rights campaigner. "Any demonstration involving people would necessarily occupy space."

Falun Gong said its demonstrations in Hong Kong are intended only to urge Beijing to end the often bloody crackdown carried out by the government of Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

"Instead of putting our practitioners in front of the court for making a peaceful and reasonable petition, Jiang Zemin should be put before the court for his brutal attack on Falun Gong," said local Falun Gong spokesman Kan Hung-cheung.

Although Falun Gong is free to practice in Hong Kong, its demonstrations have proven troublesome to the government.

Hong Kong has been allowed a great deal of autonomy since returning to Chinese rule, and the local government is careful not to offend Beijing. Some critics fear it is bending too far, effectively surrendering the territory's cherished freedoms.

"To what extent Beijing plays a part in this we can never prove, but Hong Kong is being too accommodating," said opposition lawmaker Cyd Ho.

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