AP: Falun Gong says U.S. follower barred from entering Hong Kong

HONG KONG - An American Falun Gong practitioner who flew to Hong Kong was refused entry, according to a Falun Gong spokeswoman who said Tuesday she believed the woman might have been blacklisted.

U.S. passport-holder Dan Bi-han arrived Saturday on a Cathay Pacific Airways flight from New York but was sent back on Sunday, Falun Gong spokeswoman Sharon Xu said.

"There must be a so-called blacklist somewhere," Xu said.

Hong Kong has in the past refused entry to foreign Falun Gong followers planning to attend demonstrations in the former British colony, but Xu said she was not sure what Dan had planned to do here.

Hong Kong Immigration Department spokeswoman Lisa Yip declined comment, saying she could not discuss individual cases.

U.S. citizens do not require visas to enter Hong Kong and normally are admitted without incident.

A spokesman at the U.S. Consulate General, David E. Miller, said Hong Kong officials notified the American government over the weekend that a citizen had been denied entry. The citizen made no request for consular help and was flown out of Hong Kong, Miller said.

Miller said he could not identify the person because of privacy concerns.[..]

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