BEIJING, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Five more adherents of the Falun Gong spiritual movement have died in Chinese custody following severe abuse, the group's U.S.-based information centre said on Friday.
The five, all women, died in detention centres or police custody around China and there were some witness reports of beating and torture, the Falun Dafa Information Centre said in a statement.
No comment was immediately available from authorities in any of the five cities where the deaths were reported to have occured.
The information centre cited witnesses as saying one woman from the southern province of Fujian had a gaping hole in her midriff at the time of death and public security officials quickly cremated the body.
Her family members were told to keep her death a secret.
One woman from the northeastern province of Jilin died under suspicious circumstances despite official claims of suicide, the centre said.
The family of a woman from the northeastern province of Heilongjiang said she was beaten unconscious and denied medical help.
Several of the victims were arrested for possessing Falun Gong material or for spreading information on members' plight, the centre said.
Chinese authorities have acknowledged several deaths of Falun Gong members in custody, but say most resulted from suicide or illness.
Falun Gong has said more than 50,000 practitioners have been sent to prisons, labour camps and mental hospitals since China banned the group in 1999.
Human rights groups estimate some 200 Falun Gong adherents have died from torture during detention in China.
Falun Gong, branded an "evil cult" by Beijing, was banned in 1999 after stunning top leaders with a mass protest around the Zhongnanhai leadership compound to demand official recognition of their faith.
China says the group is trying to overthrow the Communist Party and has caused the death of at least 1,800 people by suicide or refusal of medical treatment.
Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, follows a mixture of Taoist and Buddhist beliefs and traditional Chinese physical exercises.
00:17 08-31-01
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