Convention 'being broken'
TORTURE THE Government has breached the International Convention Against Torture, a pressure group said yesterday.
Paul Harris, chairman of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, said it was 'peculiar' the Government had reported no incidents to the United Nations Committee Against Torture. The committee is due to consider Hong Kong's report tomorrow.
'We have come to know of incidents of improper means of obtaining confessions and of unjustified use of violence by public officials in Hong Kong which in our opinion come within the definition of torture under the Torture Convention,' he said.
Mr Harris, a barrister, said one of his clients had alleged he was tortured at a police station in Kowloon.
'He [the client] described that his shirt had been taken off, a clip had been put over his nose, and then water poured down his throat until he was sick. I believe he was telling me the truth,' Mr Harris said.
The group will urge the committee to call on the Hong Kong Government to examine whether cases of torture have been suppressed.
