U.N. official appeals to China for release of political prisonersUN Tuesday March 21, 7:12 PM (Kyodo) -- The United Nations special rapporteur for torture recommends in a report released Tuesday that China set free eight prisoners serving time for political crimes. On a 12-day China trip last year, the first ever by someone holding his position, Rapporteur Manfred Nowak met with four inmates in Beijing Prison No. 2, three in Lhasa Prison No. 1 and one in the Urumqi Prison No. 3 who indicated they had been incarcerated for political crimes, possibly based on information obtained under torture, Nowak's 30,900-word report says, calling for their immediate release. The Urumqi inmate is Nur Mohammat Yasin, an ethnic Uyghur and author of the book Wild Pigeon. Nowak says he was beaten about the nose. He is serving a 10-year sentence for inciting separatism in the book. Nowak also appealed for the release of activist and permanent U.S. resident Yang Jianli, who was beaten and handcuffed for two weeks before receiving a five-year sentence in Beijing for espionage and illegal border crossing. Two former journalists, a Chinese Democratic Party member, and three ethnic Tibetans were also recommended for release. "Since he has been convicted of a political crime, possibly on the basis of information extracted by torture, the special rapporteur appeals to the government that he be released," Nowak writes in each of the eight cases. Nowak also suggests warm clothes, appointment of an English-speaking lawyer and family contact for Evance Orphan Minison, a Malawi citizen detained in Urumqi since June 2005 on drug charges. However, 66 percent of the 314 torture cases he has tracked in China since 2000 involved practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, the report says. Ethnic Uyghurs accounted for 11 percent of the cases, human rights activists for 5 percent and political dissidents for 2 percent. Shortly before the end of his Nov. 20-Dec. 2 China visit, Nowak told reporters that torture had declined in the country, especially in urban areas, but that it remained "widespread." He said Chinese authorities tried to block his contact with alleged torture victims and their supporters or family members, and the report details some of those encounters. Officials from the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Public Security have rejected Nowak's accusations. On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Nowak's report contains "some outstanding problems" such as incomplete information, misunderstandings of Chinese law, "unfair" conclusions and comments that go beyond the rapporteur's authority. "We have expressed regret and dissatisfaction that the rapporteur could not in all aspects objectively reflect China's real situation of opposing torture," Qin said at a scheduled press briefing. -- Excerpt from Special Rapporteur's Report 7. Yang Jianli, aged 42, US-permanent resident (holding a Ph.D. degree in Mathematics from UC Berkeley (1991) and a Ph.D. in Political Economy from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government (2001) and political activist. Barred from returning to China for approximately 13 years, he entered China illegally and was arrested as he sought to travel to Thailand on 27 April 2002. For one year his family was not informed of his arrest. He was held in a Beijing public security facility for over seven months and was then moved to the State Security Detention Centre. He recounted that on one occasion, about two weeks after the Chinese New Year in late February 2003, as he was praying whilst washing, a guard asked him what he was doing and he replied that he was a Christian. Two days later four guards beat him because he talked back and ‘had not shown proper respect.’ He was forced to squat for 1.5 hours, and was kicked and beaten with an electric baton. In an opinion adopted on 7 May 2003, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that Dr. Yang’s arrest and detention are arbitrary, and infringed his right to a fair trial. This decision was based on evidence that the Chinese authorities had detained Dr Yang for more than two months without an arrest warrant or charge. They also failed to formally acknowledge Dr Yang’s arrest or give him access to a lawyer throughout this time. The WGAD requested that the Chinese Government "take the necessary steps to remedy the situation." In March 2004, in protest of his continued detention despite an overdue verdict, he refused to wear a uniform. As punishment he was handcuffed for two weeks. He was convicted of espionage and "illegal border crossing" by Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court and sentenced on 13 May, 2004 to five years’ imprisonment plus deprivation of political rights for one year. Shortly thereafter prisoners were sent to his cell to regularly harass him, the accumulated stress of which reportedly resulted in him suffering a stroke in July 2004. He is due for release from Beijing No. 2 Prison on 27 April, 2007. Since he has been convicted of a political crime, possibly on the basis of information extracted by torture, the Special Rapporteur appeals to the Government that he be released. -------------------------- |