August 22, 2002

[Editor's note: For the truth about "blocking street" and "obstructing police", please see http://faluninfo.net/focus/hongkong.asp.]

(Clearwisdom.net) HONG KONG (Reuters) - A mystery benefactor has saved 16 Falun Gong followers from possible jail after paying some HK$29,300 (US$3,750) in fines imposed on them by a Hong Kong court which found them guilty of public obstruction last week.

"[...] We don't know who the person is," Tony Chan, a spokesman for the group in Hong Kong, said on Thursday.

The 16 -- four Swiss, one New Zealander and 11 Hong Kong residents, two of whom are also U.S. residents -- were convicted last Thursday of public obstruction and other offences during a demonstration against Beijing, a high-profile case that sparked fears over freedoms in this territory.

[...]

The 16 have insisted they did no wrong and vowed they would rather go to jail than pay the fine. They lodged an appeal against the convictions last Saturday.

"The person who paid up may not be one of us because we have our own principles. We will not say we won't pay and then turn around and pay," Chan said.

"I won't rule out the possibility that it could even be the Hong Kong government, which may not want this matter to blow up even further."

[...]

Political observers say the charges coincided with what appeared to be a hardening of resolve by the territory's leader, Tung Chee-hwa, to get tough on China's critics.

All 16 were found guilty of public obstruction. Nine were also convicted of willfully obstructing police and three with assaulting police officers.

The group was charged after a protest on a wide pavement outside China's main political office in Hong Kong on March 14 when they denounced the crackdown on Falun Gong on the mainland.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/reuters/asia-121558.html