Chinese Cult Member Reported Dead

BEIJING--A follower of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement died after being released from a psychiatric hospital where he was injected with nerve-destroying drugs, a human rights group said yesterday.

Su Gang, a 32-year-old computer engineer, was in good health when he was sent to the hospital on May 23 but was weak, slow, stiff and unable to eat when he was released eight days later, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said, quoting Su's father, Su Dean.

Su died of heart failure on June 10, the Hong Kong-based Information Center said. While in the hospital, he was forcibly injected with nerve-damaging medicines every day, it said.

A hospital official said Su was discharged in good health. She refused to give her name.

The Information Center said at least 22 Falun Gong practitioners have died of mistreatment and other causes since the government banned the group last July as an alleged threat to public well-being and to the authority of the ruling Communist Party.

(Associated Press)

THE MIDDLE EAST

Iran Lawmakers Urge Review of Press Law

TEHRAN--Iran's new reformist parliament called for an urgent review of the country's tough press law--passed just months ago by the outgoing, hard-line parliament--and warned the conservative chief judge to respect the rights of political prisoners.

An overwhelming majority of lawmakers also called on the head of the judiciary to reopen pro-reform newspapers closed in a crackdown in April.

"The closure of 18 publications with a circulation of more than one million copies per day can only be likened to closing society's schools," said Ahmad Bourqani, a lawmaker from Tehran. Bourqani was the deputy minister of culture for press affairs before being forced out of the government because of his liberal policies toward independent newspapers.

(Reuters)

AFRICA

Nigerian Militants Hold Oil Workers

LAGOS, Nigeria--Chevron Corp. said that heavily armed Nigerian militants were holding 18 oil workers hostage in the volatile oil-producing Niger Delta region.

The company said in a statement that 22 Nigerians and two foreign workers were taken hostage and that the foreigners and four Nigerians had been freed. All were employees of contractors working on a Chevron oil pipeline right-of-way in the Benin River near the southern Escravos export terminal. The statement gave no details of the militants' demands.

(Reuters)

FOR THE RECORD

Sudan's main rebel group said it was ready to resume peace talks aimed at ending a 17-year civil war, a month after it suspended negotiations with the government. . . . Jordan's King Abdullah dismissed conservative Prime Minister Abdul-Raouf Rawabdeh and replaced him with Ali Abu Ragheb, a liberal-leaning politician with strong business credentials, in the first government change since the king succeeded his father last year.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Somehow, we need to get control of our destiny again."

-- Victor Buffalo, a former Indian chief who is suing the Canadian government over oil royalties