According to a Washington Post report on September 9, 2001, the U. N. high commissioner for human rights, Mary Robinson, said she pressed China again for the release of Zhao Ming, a member of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement who studied at Robinson's alma mater, Dublin University. China's Deputy Foreign Minister, Wang Guangya, said that Zhao's sentence was extended to March because he refused to give up his beliefs in prison.