February 18, 2002

BEIJING (AP) -- Six Chinese students from the university where President Bush will speak this week are on trial for spreading outlawed [spiritual]material, a human rights group said Monday.

The six are charged with spreading material on the Internet about the outlawed Falun Gong[spiritual group], the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy said. Their trial began in September in the southern city of Zhuhai, the center said.

The defendants were described as architecture and engineering students at Tsinghua University, an elite school in Beijing where Bush is scheduled to speak on Friday.

The Hong Kong-based center said a ruling in their case had been postponed until after the president's visit.

It said the six were arrested in Zhuhai in November 2000 after posting writings on foreign Web sites criticizing China's crackdown of Falun Gong. The center identified them as Lin Yang, Ma Yan, Li Chunyang, Jiang Yuxia, Li Yanfang and Huang Kui.

No one answered the telephone at Tsinghua or the Zhuhai court on Monday evening.

Religious freedom is expected to be among topics Bush will raise with Chinese leaders during the two-day visit to the Chinese capital that starts Thursday.

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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-China-Banned-Sect.html