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Saturday, June 19, 2004 |
CHINA POSTPONES VISIT OF U.N. INVESTIGATOR ON TORTURE AFTER ARRESTS OF CHRISTIANS
U.N. official and human rights groups concerned amid reported church crackdown
By: Stefan J. Bos
Special Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
BEIJING / GENEVA (ANS) -- Just over a month after news leaked that a key house church leader was allegedly beaten to death while in police custody, China has again postponed a visit by the United Nations investigator on torture in what human rights groups say is part of a strategy to avoid scrutiny of its overcrowded labor camps and prisons, ASSIST News Service (ANS) learned Saturday, June 19. (Pictured: Marching security forces. Source: Christian Solidarity Worldwide.)
In a statement, the Chinese government said it had postponed a planned two-week visit this month by the Special Rapporteur on Torture, Theo van Boven, until later this year to allow "more time to prepare" given the many different authorities, departments and provinces involved, news reports said. At the same time China's official media have been seen playing up revelations of brutality and abuse by United States military guards at prisons in Iraq and Cuba.
Van Boven, who was due to present his report to the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Commission, condemned the delay saying that freedom to make inquiries as well as access to places of detention were necessary for a proper assessment. He also stressed the need for confidential interviews with detainees and other people, without fear of reprisal, a statement said.
China's controversial decision followed detailed reports by human rights groups this week about a major Beijing-backed crackdown on underground congregations including the arrests of over 100 evangelical officials, and after family members said 28-year old house church teacher Gu Xianggao was beaten to death on April 27 by Chinese Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers.
"EVIL CULTS"
Chinese officials have not reacted to these reports, but the government has said that China must protect itself against "evil cults." Human rights watchdogs argue the term is used as an excuse to attack growing evangelical churches and dissident groups, because the Chinese Communist Party apparently fears to lose control over sectors in society.
In statements seen by ANS, human rights monitors said the postponement of the U.N. visit showed Beijing's lack of sincerity about the investigation on the ground, which was reportedly planned for more than a decade, but has yet to occur.
"The Chinese government has engaged in a recurring strategy of responding to international pressure and scrutiny with well-timed overtures that it and other governments can point to as indicators of China's progress in human rights reforms," the New York-based Human Rights in China said in a statement. "Once the pressure recedes, these overtures are all too often withdrawn."
THOUSANDS DETAINED
The delay came also as a setback for organizations such as the Christian Aid Association (CAA), which investigates the plight of persecuted Christians. In April CAA told the 60th annual meeting of the U.N. Commission in Geneva that close to at least 9,000 Chinese Christians have been arrested and detained in the last decade, and that many have been tortured.
As an example CAA President Bob Fu said that feared Chinese security forces used torture as a weapon to gather "false evidence" against a pastor of the rapidly growing evangelical South China Church.
"At least three believers were tortured to death, many men and women believers were tortured and many, especially women, were sexually abused and molested during their interrogation to obtain false evidence against Pastor Gong," he told the U.N. Commission, according to a transcript.
"MAJOR PREPARATIONS"
However one former detention center inmate told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that any outside investigation will never uncover the truth, as despite official promises the U.N. inspector's itinerary would be kept secret in advance, China almost certainly would make "major preparations" at all the prisons and law enforcement centers on his visit.
"Two days before a visit by city leaders, let alone the United Nations, detention centers and police stations in every district start cleaning up their act for the visit," Liu Anjun was quoted as saying. "They tell you what to say. You can't get it wrong. You have to learn it off by heart. If you don't you get beaten."
Liu is among dozens of long-term petitioners camped outside government offices in Beijing with complaints of official corruption and mistreatment who reportedly were rounded up and loaded into vans ahead of the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown, RFA's Mandarin service reported.
Protests on major thoroughfares and outside government departments have become a regular sight across China, making the problems of millions of peasants, laid-off workers, and those forcibly evicted from their homes all too visible to other sectors of society, RFA said.
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Read more on these and other news stories on news agency BosNewsLife at website http://www.bosnewslife.com
7:59:20 PM 
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© 2004 Radio Free China
Last Update: 7/1/2004; 9:17:27 AM
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