Rival leader for China sect

A leadership battle has broken out in the outlawed Chinese spiritual movement Falungong, which the authorities have been trying to suppress for a year.

A Falungong follower from Hong Kong, Belinda Peng, has declared herself its true leader, replacing the movement's founder, Ling Hongzhi, who lives in exile in the United States.

Leading figures in the Falungong say the breakaway does not threaten to divide the group, as Belinda Peng has few supporters.

But the two sides do have competing Internet sites, on which they've been arguing in public.

Many of Falungong's leading members in China have been been given prison terms of up to eighteen years, and thousands of other supporters have been sent to labour camps without trial.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service