Economist: Case closed

An unidentified woman has paid the fines of 16 [practitioners] of the Falun Gong spiritual [practice], who were brought up on public obstruction charges in the group's first criminal trial in Hong Kong. The [practice] is banned in China, and local human rights activists have labelled Hong Kong's crackdown a political move to appease Beijing.

The [practitioners], 11 Hong Kongers, four Swiss nationals and one New Zealander, were arrested in March during a protest outside a Chinese government office. They refused to pay their fines, arguing the charges were unfair.

The woman who paid the HK$29,300 ($3,760) fine in cash in August remains a mystery. Falun Gong [practitioners] say she may be a sympathiser, but some speculate that she is a government official sent to pay the fine and bring the case to a close. If the convicted members had continued to refuse to pay the fine they would have been jailed, which would have brought more publicity to the controversial case.