Members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement have filed a lawsuit against Cisco Systems Inc. accusing it of supplying the Chinese government with computer-networking equipment used to spy on and persecute dissidents.

In a lawsuit filed last week, a group of Falun Gong practitioners alleges that Cisco provided networking gear and technical assistance to build and operate an elaborate system of Internet controls used by the Chinese government to track the online behavior of its citizens and block content it does not like.