DHARAMSHALA, March 12: A prominent Chinese human rights group has said that conditions for activists in China deteriorated to the worst ever in a decade last year.
Hong Kong based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) in its annual report released at the weekend said almost 4,000 incidences of individuals arbitrarily detained for their work in defence of human rights and 159 incidences of torture were reported last year alone.
CHRD said Chinese authorities had tightened their grip and ordered a severe crackdown on activists after calls grew for Middle-East style pro-democracy protests in China.
“(The crackdown) marked yet another low point in the downward spiral of China’s human rights records, making 2011 the most repressive year since the rights defence movement began in the early 2000s,” said Renee Xia, CHRD’s international director.
“The crackdown impacted not only the individual activists, but also menacingly conveyed a warning to the ordinary Chinese citizens: anyone who challenges the government will be punished,” the report noted.
“Common abuses included beatings, being forced to remain in stress positions for long periods of time, sleep deprivation, and denial of access to medical treatment,” CHRD said.
“Activists also routinely faced violence from government personnel while carrying out their work.”
The group said it was particularly alarmed by the “widespread use of extralegal detention and enforced disappearance,” in which at least two dozen activists were taken by authorities and held for long periods of time in secret locations.
The internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei was among several dissidents to be taken to unknown locations – known as “black jails” – and held for months without charge during the crackdown on government critics last year.
Other high-profile cases of enforced disappearance included three well-known rights lawyers, Teng Biao, Jiang Tianyong and Tang Jitian, who were held for several months before being released.
China had planned to make it legal to “disappear” criminal suspects as part of changes to the country’s criminal law, which is under debate this week by lawmakers attending the annual National People’s Congress.
However, in what was hailed as a victory for judicial reformers, China has abandoned those controversial plans following a public outcry.
Those proposed amendments to the law previously included a clause that allowed police to hold people suspected of terrorism or endangering national security in secret locations without notifying their families.
But the clause has been excised from the amended Criminal Procedure Law, according to a draft and rights activists.
The group also said the new rules forcing hundreds of millions of Internet users use their real names when registering for microblogs was another disturbing development aimed at silencing government critics.
“This measure is probably one of the most effective yet in reining in the power of microblogs to expose rights abuses and put pressure on the authorities,” it said.
TCHRD called on China to end the “persecution and harassment” of rights defenders and the protection of the rights and freedoms essential to the defence of human rights.
“Release all detained and imprisoned human rights defenders and abolish the system of Re-education through Labour and close down all black jails around the country,” the group urged China.
