HONG KONG, May 9 (Reuters) - China has sent a Falun Gong member, who featured in a Pulitzer Prize winner's article, to three years in a labour camp, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said on Wednesday.
Zhang Xueling, who had told of her mother being beaten to death by Chinese police to Ian Johnson of the Wall Street Journal, was sentenced on April 24, the Information Centre for Human Rights & Democracy in China said in a statement.
The human rights group said it was not clear whether Zhang's sentencing was related to the Pulitzer Prize award to Johnson. Zhang, 33, had repeatedly asked the Chinese authorities to investigate her mother's death, angering Chinese police.
The sentencing came a week after Johnson had been jointly awarded the Pulitzer Prize international reporting award for his stories about the Chinese crackdown on the outlawed spiritual movement, the information centre said.
Johnson shared the award with Paul Salopek of the Chicago Tribune who reported on political strife and disease in Africa.
The Falun Gong movement, which practices a mixture of Taoism and Buddhism as well as traditional Chinese physical exercises, has been outlawed in China where it has been branded an evil cult and accused of trying to overthrow the government.
07:18 05-09-01
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