BEIJING - A member of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement detained in western China has died after a hunger strike, a hospital administrator said Wednesday.
Wan Guifu, 57, died Dec. 18 at the hospital of the Dashaping labor camp in the city of Lanzhou, said the administrator, contacted by telephone. He gave only his surname, Zhang.
The death added to a mounting loss of life among Falun Gong members since the group was outlawed in July, 1999 as a threat to communist rule.
The government and Falun Gong leaders blame each other for the deaths.
Falun Gong says 335 detained members had died of abuse by the end of December. The government denies mistreating detainees, and says followers have died of ill health or committed suicide.
Wan was detained in March for distributing Falun Gong materials in Lanzhou, Falun Gong supporters abroad said in a written statement. It said the retired autoworker stopped eating Oct. 15 to protest his confinement and was hospitalized in mid-December.
Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, one of China's poorest areas, is about 650 miles southwest of Beijing.