TEACHERS, writers and students imprisoned after Beijing's 1989 democracy protests are subject to severe beatings and inhumane treatment, according to a damning Amnesty International report due to be released this week.
A letter from political prisoners still held at Hanying jail in Hubei province tells of how they are tortured and forms the main plank of the report's allegations.
The appeal, signed in the names of more than 40 inmates, calls on the international community to focus on abuse in prisons and tells of six-hour beatings.
''Every political prisoner in Hubei has a history of blood and tears,'' the inmates write.
''Most of the pro-democracy dissidents are still in prison and continue to suffer various kinds of inhuman torture.'' The report says tens of thousands of protesters remain in jail without trial after being detained for ''counter-revolutionary'' crimes during the post-June 4 crackdown.
The report, China: Human Rights Abuses Five Years after Tiananmen, constitutes the first time Amnesty has identified civilians killed by troops in Beijing in 1989. The 75 victims named include children, the elderly and university students. It lists more than 200 political prisoners at Qinghe Farm labour camp and Beijing Prison No 2 and includes signed testimony from Han-ying jail prisoners.