Eleven members of the Mentuhui cult received jail terms in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, local authorities told Xinhua on Friday.
The defendants were given sentences ranging from three years to eight years and six months on Thursday after being convicted of instigating believers to defy law and regulations with the cult's doctrine, according to a spokesman with the anti-cult office of Shizuishan City.
In order to attract disciples, the members set up bases in the city's Dawukou District and Pingluo County and sent text messages, pictures, as well as video and audio clips on their creeds to local residents, according to the courts in Dawukou and Pingluo.
The defendants pleaded guilty.
The Mentuhui group (Disciples Sect) was classified as a cult in 1995. In November, 2014, police in Shizuishan arrested 137 members of the cult.
