AFP: Amnesty says torture, ill-treatment increased in China last year

LONDON, May 28 (AFP) - Amnesty International Tuesday condemned China for continued violations of basic rights on a massive scale, saying torture and ill-treatment had increased in some areas over the past year.

Groups such as the outlawed Falungong spiritual movement and people branded "Islamic separatists" were particularly targeted during 2001, the London-based rights group said in its annual report. "Torture and ill-treatment remained widespread and appeared to increase against certain groups," the report said. Amnesty noted a rise in reports of torture and deaths of detained followers of Falungong, which has been outlawed since 1999. "Around 200 Falungong practitioners allegedly died in custody as a result of torture,” it said. Even in Hong Kong, nominally not exposed to Beijing's political control, Falungong members were arrested at peaceful demonstrations and alleged that they were victims of police violence, the report said.

On the mainland, the death penalty continued to be used "extensively, arbitrarily and frequently" and the so-called "Strike Hard" campaign against crime led to a massive escalation in executions, Amnesty said. At least 4,015 people were sentenced to death and 2,468 executed last year, although the true figure was believed to be far higher, Amnesty said. "The authorities continued to show willingness to adhere on a pro-forma level to the international human rights regime, but pursued domestic policies which resulted in serious human rights violations on a large scale," the group charged. The report said thousands were detained or imprisoned across the country for "peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association or belief." It said "gross violations of human rights" continued in China's westernmost and largely Muslim Xinjiang region, citing instances of "arbitrary and summary executions, torture, arbitrary detention and unfair political trials.”A new wave
Of executions of people labeled as 'separatists' or 'terrorists' by the authorities took place after the September 11 attacks in the USA," the report said. Repression continued in Tibet, and even in Inner Mongolia,
otherwise not known as hotbed of ethnic unrest, intellectuals had been arrested on charges of separatism, it said. Amnesty also criticized Beijing for sending back hundreds or perhaps even thousands of North Koreans hiding out in northeast China. "(China denied) them access to any refugee determination procedures, in breach of the principles embodied in the1951 UN Refugee Convention," it said.

The report cited widespread use of torture such as "kicking, beating, electric shocks, hanging by the arms, shackling in painful positions, and sleep and food deprivation." "The victims included all types of detainees and prisoners, as well as bystanders to protests, people involved in disputes with officials, migrant workers, vagrants and women suspected of prostitution," it said. Unrest in the cities and the countryside triggered by China's huge social problems had been met with heavy-handed tactics from the authorities, the report added. "Some protests were met with excessive use of force by police, and some protesters were detained," it said.

China on Tuesday rejected Amnesty's accusations before
it had even seen the report, […].