Falun Gong reports torture

Two members of banned Chinese spiritual sect Falun Gong were tortured and died in police custody in Shandong province in July, the group said.

Zhong Zhenfu, 58, died of injuries sustained in police custody after being held along with others from Pingdu, in Shandong, since May, the group said in a statement. Liu Xiumei, a woman from Zhucheng, Shandong, was detained in July and died 17 days later, it said, without giving further details.

Officials from Shandong province were not immediately available for comment.

Beijing views the sect as a dangerous cult and has severely cracked down on its followers since 1999.

Falun Gong said that more than 8,000 of its followers had been detained in the last several months as China tried to prevent any embarrassing disruption of the Olympic Games in Beijing.