The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) issued an anti-cult law today to prevent and combat cults such as the now banned Falun Gong sect.

The decision to outlaw and punish Falun Gong and other cults is passed at the 12 session of the 9th NPC Standing Committee, which opened here today.

It calls on courts, prosecutors, police and administrative judicial organs to be on full alerts of cult activities and smash them rigorously in accordance with the law.

Cult organizations that have destroyed normal social orders and stability through illegal gathering, led to the deaths of practitioners and rapes of women and swindled money should be dealt with severely, the decision says.

It also stresses that deceived followers and practitioners should be differentiated from cult leaders. Local governments are asked to take necessary measures to educate those deceived while punishing a small number of cult leaders and those who have committed crimes.

Religious cult is a problem faced by many governments in the world. Over the past few years, a number of cult organizations, such as Falun Gong and Zhu Shen Jiao (or the principal god), appeared in China, damaging social orders and stability.

China has made great success in combating the Falun Gong cult in the past three months.

(China daily 1999/10/30)