BEIJING (Reuters) - China has jailed six academics for downloading material on the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong and distributing it over the internet, a Hong-Kong based human rights group said.
Beijing's Number One Intermediate Court sentenced the six Falun Gong practitioners, including four graduate students at the prestigious Tsinghua University, the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement seen on Sunday.
The six received separate jail terms of three to 12 years for "making use of a cult to undermine the implementation of the law", the group said citing relatives and a fellow practitioner at the university.
The court was not reachable for comment.
China has carried out a legal crackdown against the practice and dissemination of Falun Gong since branding it an "evil cult" and banning it in 1999.
Falun Gong practices a mixture of Taoism and Buddhism and traditional Chinese physical exercises.
The human rights group did not say if the six jailed were accused of acting together but said they included husband-and-wife Tsinghua scientists Liu Wenyu and Yao Yue. The six were detained between January and April.
Yao, who studied microelectronics, received a 12-year sentence while husband Liu, who studied thermal energy, was jailed for three years, the group said.
Nine other Tsinghua students or teachers who have been arrested for activities related to Falun Gong remain untried, it said.
Thirty-two Tsinghua University academics overseas have sent an open letter calling on Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and Vice President Hu Jintao, both alumni of the university, to stop Beijing's "suppression and persecution of Falun Gong", it said.
Chinese state media have intensified a campaign against the spiritual group in recent weeks through repeated coverage highlighting a murder in Beijing that officials said was carried out by a practitioner.
The banned group's U.S.-based information centre has denied the reports, saying its teachings prohibit killing and suicide.
The group says more than 1,600 followers have died as a result of abuse in police custody or detention centres.
Chinese authorities have acknowledged several deaths of Falun Gong members in custody, but say most resulted from suicide or illness. They blame the group for the deaths of at least 1,800 people through suicide or the refusal to take medical treatment.