Human rights defenders still treated harshly in China - Amnesty report

Human rights defenders face arrest and torture in China, and the European Union should raise the issue at a summit with Beijing's leaders this week, Amnesty International said in a new report yesterday.

"EU leaders should take into account that while the number of human rights activists is growing in China, they may still be at risk at any time of arrest and imprisonment," Dick Oosting, head of the human rights watchdog's EU office, said in a statement.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will press the EU to end its 15-year-old ban on arms sales to China at a summit in the Netherlands tomorrow and the day after at which European leaders are expected to seek closer economic ties with the fast-growing Asian giant.

Some diplomats and many human rights activists are worried that in China-EU relations, the appetite for economic benefits stemming from closer cooperation may be outweighing concerns over democracy and human rights.

"Amnesty International hopes... the EU will employ a higher level of scrutiny of China's harsh treatment of those who dare to speak out, whether it is about HIV/AIDS, housing rights, workers' rights, freedom of religion, minority rights or the right to justice," said Mr Oosting.

Amnesty's 42-page report details cases of activists who have being arrested on vague charges and put into prisons known for ill-treatment and torture.

"Those who become openly involved in human rights advocacy in China may face serious human rights violations, including in some cases torture, arbitrary detention and imprisonment," the report said.

For example, Yao Fuxin, a 54-year-old worker, was arrested two years ago in Liaoyang province on charges of "organising an illegal assembly" following workers' demonstrations against corruption and low pay and pensions.

The charge was later changed to "subversion" and he was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Amnesty said China continues to detain legitimate human rights activists on charges such as "stealing state secrets" despite amending the constitution this year to include the clause that "the state respects and protects human rights".

China argues fundamental human rights mean feeding, clothing and housing its 1.3 billion people and that the welfare of society takes priority in some cases over individual rights.

Some EU members like Britain say such human rights violations should prevent the Union from lifting the arms embargo, which was imposed after the Chinese army brutally crushed pro-democracy protests in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

France, which first pressed for a review of the ban and is one of the EU's biggest arms exporters, and Germany are seen as supporting an end to the embargo to open trade opportunities.

EU diplomats say the arms embargo would not be lifted this year, but the mood among foreign ministers who debated the issue last month was moving towards removing it next year, once a stronger overall EU code of conduct on arms exports was in place.