Times of Central Asia Reports on Zhao Ming’s Case Being Raised by Mary Robinson in Human Rights Talks in China

BEIJING, Nov 15, 2001 -- (Times of Central Asia) UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson urged China on Friday not to use a campaign against terrorism to curb civil liberties, and insisted that a UN investigator on torture pay a visit at an early date.

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``The volume of complaints and the seriousness of them has gone up in recent months and I find that very worrying,'' she said.

Robinson said she urged Chinese officials to set a date for a long-awaited visit by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. China has said it is willing to negotiate the terms of a visit, but has not made direct contact with the current special rapporteur, British law professor Sir Nigel Rodley, who steps down on November 22. That is why I have been insisting very hard that the new rapporteur must get a firm date early on and I am given to understand that will be the case,'' she said. If it's not the case, I'll be around to say so.''

``I also explained it would be necessary to have the same criteria as Nigel Rodley had been rightly saying was necessary to carry out his mandate,'' Robinson added. Rodley has been seeking a visit to China since 1996, but Beijing has refused to agree to give him access to detention centers of his choice and private interviews with inmates.

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Among individual cases Robinson said she raised was veteran democracy activist Xu Wenli at the request of his wife, who says he is sick with hepatitis.[..] Another case highlighted was Zhao Ming, 31, a jailed follower of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement who once studied at Dublin University in Ireland, Robinson's alma mater. China's crackdown on Falun Gong ..had led to widespread violations of freedoms of speech and association, Robinson said.

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