BEIJING (AP) - Casting doubt on official Chinese claims that another of its followers set himself on fire, the Falun Gong spiritual movement called Saturday for an independent investigation into the incident.
In a statement, Falun Gong said it was ``extremely sad and shocked'' by news of Tan Yihui's death but could not verify reports by Chinese state media that he was a member of the meditation sect, which is banned in China.
The statement said China was using the 25-year-old shoe shiner's reported self-immolation Friday in Beijing to defame Falun Gong.
``In the past, there were many cases where police pushed Falun Gong practitioners out of the windows in high-rise buildings to fabricate scenes of suicides to gain international approval for their brutal crackdown,'' said the statement from Falun Gong representatives in the United States.
Chinese state media said that in a note found near his charred body, Tan wrote that followers must sacrifice themselves for the group. If true, the reported suicide is the latest indication that China's relentless 19-month crackdown on Falun Gong is pushing some practitioners to extremes.
Last month, a purported follower was killed and four others were seriously burned when they set themselves ablaze on Tiananmen Square in a radical departure from what had largely been a campaign of peaceful protests and civil disobedience by Falun Gong members against the government's ban on the group.
``I really can no longer be tolerant,'' Tan's note said, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. ``I must bravely stand up and be a warrior to protect the Fa!'' Tan allegedly wrote, using another name for the practice.
Falun Gong called for an independent investigation into Tan's death. It said Li Hongzhi, Falun Gong's U.S.-based founder, has ``at no time and under no circumstances'' encouraged followers to burn themselves in order to ascend to heaven.
``It is strictly against the teachings of Falun Gong to take the life of a human being, which includes suicide,'' the statement said.
Xinhua blamed Tan's death on what it claimed were Li's calls for followers to ``ascend to Heaven and achieve perfection.''
The suicide prompted renewed state media condemnation of Falun Gong and appeals to practitioners to sever ties with the group.
Chinese leaders, worried by Falun Gong's multimillion following and ability to mobilize protests, banned the group in July 1999. The government claims the group is an evil cult that has led nearly 1,700 followers to their deaths, mostly by encouraging spiritual healing over modern medicine.
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.