U.S. Grants Asylum to Banned China Sect Leader

Reuters, June 15, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/
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HONG KONG (Reuters) - The United States government has granted political asylum to the leader of a spiritual sect banned in China, a Hong Kong-based human rights body said on Friday.

The founder of the Zhong Gong sect, Zhang Hongbao, was granted asylum by the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeal on Wednesday, reversing a previous ruling, the Information Centre for Human Rights & Democracy said in a statement.

The move signaled the end of Zhang's seven years in exile, and could spell a new irritant in soured Sino-U.S. ties.

Beijing has accused Zhang of raping followers, which his group dismisses as fabrication, and angrily demanded earlier this year that the United States repatriate him.

The Board of Immigration Appeals said China's charges were not credible, as the alleged victim only reported the incident 10 years later, the center said.
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Along with the better-known Falun Gong spiritual movement, Zhong Gong has been banned in China as an ``evil cult,'' accused of ''using feudal superstition to deceive the masses.''
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The Hong Kong group said Zhang should be able to become a U.S. permanent resident by June next year.
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