BEIJING: Four people have been arrested on suspicion of helping to organise a mass suicide attempt by alleged members of the banned Falun Gong movement at Tiananmen Square in January, a prosecutor said yesterday.
The three men and a woman were arrested on Saturday on suspicion of ``using an evil cult to disrupt the law'' although they had not been formally charged yet, according to a Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate spokesman.
He confirmed a report in the state media that two of those arrested were Liu Yunfang and Xue Hongjun, described as the masterminds of the incident. A third suspected mastermind, Wang Jindong, who took part in the suicide attempt and remains in hospital, had also been arrested, the spokesman said.
The woman is Liu Xiuqin, a Beijing resident who allegedly provided lodging for the Falun Gong practitioners before the suicide attempt and equipped them with the petrol with which they used to set themselves alight.
The official press said yesterday the self-immolation was the result of ``incitement and spiritual control'' by Falun Gong leader Li Hongzhi, who now lives in the United States, and a ``conspiracy'' by some of his followers.
In the alleged mass suicide attempt on January 23, one woman died, while four others, including a 12-year-old girl, Liu Siying, survived with severe burns.
While the mainland press had previously reported that Liu Yunfang, a 57-year-old worker from the city of Kaifeng in the central province of Henan, was prevented by police from immolating himself, Xinhua said yesterday he never had the intention of committing suicide. ``I did not set myself on fire, because the `master' wanted me to stay,'' Liu Yunfang said, referring to Mr Li. ``He wants me to live so I can speak.''
The allegation the suicide attempt was orchestrated by Mr Li was given prominent coverage in yesterday's edition of the People's Daily. ``This is a very serious criminal matter,'' an editorial said, claiming a direct link between Mr Li and the suicide bid. ``Irrefutable proof shows that this is an organised and planned crime.''