Political activism means mainland practitioners can't breathe easy

When former president Jiang Zemin banned Falun Gong in July 1999, few could have imagined the long-term consequences of his decision. More than eight years later, the movement and the state are still at war, with mainland practitioners facing arrest and imprisonment unless they sign a statement renouncing the practice.

Abroad, the sect continues a well-organised campaign of protest, with sit-ins outside Chinese embassies and consulates, and newspaper reports which describe the torture and murder of its members in prisons and labour camps.

In July 2006, a Canadian human rights lawyer and former Canadian diplomat issued a report that said China had practised widespread harvesting of human organs from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners. They said that since 1999, Chinese hospitals, detention centres and people's courts had killed Falun Gong members, removed their hearts, kidneys, livers, corneas and other vital organs and sold them at a high price to recipients, including foreigners. Beijing denied the accusations.

While the Falun Gong has been unable to gain the international status of underground Catholics, dissident Tibetans and Uygurs and other persecuted groups in China, its organisation and media savvy mean its voice is heard around the world. Whenever Mr Jiang travels, he goes in secret with a large escort of bodyguards because Falun Gong holds him responsible for the ban and labels him a war criminal who deserves to be tried at the Hague.

Its leader, Li Hongzhi, lives in hiding, probably in the US. Zhang Hongbao, head of another banned qigong school named Zhong Gong, also fled to the US in February 2000 and was given asylum. In April 2003, Zhang funded the China Federation Foundation, which called for the violent overthrow of the Chinese government.

One qigong teacher said that by the time Zhang left China he had amassed a fortune of billions of yuan and collected machine guns and ammunition for a possible coup.