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SCMP Reporter

Fact-finding trip finds  prisoner abuse is not systematic but difficult to quantify

The use of torture and coercive labour camps are still widespread on the mainland, a top UN human rights envoy concluded after a historic two-week trip to prisons, detention centres and  rights activists.

Manfred Nowak, the  United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, said no request for a meeting or interview with a  detainee was refused during his fact-finding mission, the first visit granted to his office in a decade.

'My preliminary conclusion is that as far as the amount of torture is concerned, I would recognise a certain decline, primarily in urban areas ... but nevertheless torture remains widespread in the country,' he said at a briefing wrapping up the mission.

He added there was no evidence of systematic use of torture on the mainland. But Professor Nowak complained of obstructions by the authorities and said the ministries of State Security and Public Security, in particular, had  restricted his attempts to meet individuals outside his official programme.

'There was frequent surveillance of interviews that I had outside prisons with victims' family members by intelligence agents who tried to listen to our private conversations,' he said.

'There are many reports that victims and family members were actually prevented from meeting me by various means, putting them under house arrest, preventing them physically from coming to me, intimidation, etc.'

The intensive surveillance was later reduced after the Foreign Ministry intervened at his request.

'I observed a palpable level of fear and self-censorship in those I interviewed.

'Unfortunately, a considerable number of people did not wish to talk to me, which I regretted because often those are the people who have been intervened before I finally managed to see them.

Professor Nowak and his team visited 30 detainees at various detention centres in Beijing, Lhasa  in Tibet  and Urumqi  in the Xinjiang autonomous region .

He cancelled planned visits to Jinan  in Shandong  and Yining  in Xinjiang because of time constraints.

Noting serious efforts undertaken by the authorities to tackle the notoriously wide use of torture and capital punishment, he said there was still a long way to go for the situation to improve.

'There is much that still needs to be done. There is a need for many more structural reforms.  Criminal laws and procedures need to be brought in line with the internationally accepted minimum standards of a fair trial.'

Professor Nowak noted that compared with the UN definition, torture on the mainland was defined in much more restricted terms in criminal law, which excluded psychological and torture that did not leave physical injuries.

During his 13-day visit he also managed to meet several human rights lawyers, including Gao Zhisheng   and Mo Shaoping . He said Mr Gao and other activists  offered 'a sign of hope' by seeking international co-operation despite constant harassment and obstructions by  authorities.

'Mr Gao is working under extremely difficult circumstances, but still he is defending all kinds of different people, from practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement to ethnic minorities in their human rights litigations.'

Professor Nowak added: 'I sincerely hope that my visit did not put any of them into dangerous situations, but rather the opposite, that my visit would actually help them in becoming more outspoken.'

He said he had visited the Liudaowan detention centre in Xinjiang where Rebiya Kadeer, an ethnic Uygur businesswoman and a political prisoner, was kept before her release in March.

He denied allegations that Ms Kadeer's family members had been in detention in Xinjiang, although he failed to find them.

Professor Nowak insisted that the situation was improving in China although he admitted that he had not been given  access to key statistics on torture or death sentences.

'It is for me very, very difficult to say after this two-week mission with restrictions that I mentioned to really come up now, statistically speaking, with the precise data telling you it's generally improved [and] that there is a decline.'

He noted that apart from those convicted Falun Gong practitioners being held in prisons, many had been put into re-education through labour facilities, where they were  under painful stress.

'In particular in the countryside, there is a lot of ill-treatment, such as beating, by the police just because there is lots of pressure on them to produce confessions, which has nothing to do with political dissidents, ordinary or criminal suspects.'

Professor Nowak gave an example of torture he came across during his visit to He Depu , who has been imprisoned in Beijing's No 2 prison for subversion since 2003.

'He was forced to lay down for 85 days on a bed, with a blanket in winter, but he always had to have his hands and his feet out. 85 days!'

He said He Depu was only allowed to go the toilet and sit on the bed when he had meals, adding he could not even go to sleep due to the temperature and the uncomfortable position.

He's wife, who had been under constant police surveillance for eight years, was taken away from her home in Beijing to prevent her meeting the UN team, according to Professor Nowak.

'She was a very brave woman. After I intervened, she was brought back and allowed to see me. She told me the whole story and asked me: 'Is this torture?'.'

Professor Nowak  is due to present his report to the UN Commission on Human Rights next year.



Torture still widespread, says UN envoy