These regulations, which require that all non-profit entities be sponsored and managed by government agencies and mandate no association without registration, were cited in the banning order on Falun Gong issued yesterday by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The Ministry of Public Security followed with a decree prohibiting the posting and distribution of Falun Gong materials, as well as the spiritual practice, assembly and demonstration of its members, threatening those who disobey with criminal penalties. The Ministry of Public Security's decree effectively bars Falun Gong supporters from exercising their constitutional right to petition against the actions of the authorities, and bans all opposition to the government's crackdown. The Chinese government has routinely employed the pretext of criminal charges to dissolve religious and spiritual groups and to punish their leading members. Although the revisions to China's criminal code enacted in 1997 abolished counterrevolutionary crimes, the government's attitude towards such issues evidently has not changed.
Serious offenses carry sentences of seven years or above.
HRIC urges the Chinese government to respect international human rights standards and to abide by the provisions of the Chinese constitution. HRIC believes the ban on the Falun Gong group should be lifted, and demands the release of all practitioners detained. HRIC will be raising this case with the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and will be asking the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, who visited China in 1994, to take up this issue with the Chinese authorities as a matter of urgency. We also urge the Chinese government to take note of the Special Rapporteur's recommendations following his visit. Founded in 1989 by a group of Chinese scientists and scholars, HRIC maintains offices in New York and Hong Kong.