The Chinese officials were pressed by the members of the United Nations Committee against Torture over the widespread torture in the country’s prisons, crackdowns on activists and especially of political prisoners and custodial deaths at Geneva on November 17.
The Chinese government reported that they are working on combating torture through better training of prison guards and audio and video recordings of interrogations. “Our efforts have produced major progress in our combat against torture,” said Wu Hailong, China’s ambassador who heads its delegation of 39 senior officials to the UN body.
The UN committee raised several issues, including the use of interrogation chairs, electric shocks, weighted leg cuffs on detainees, and also inquired whether detainees had access to medical facilities and why prisoners were held in solitary confinement.
The evasive nature of China’s report on torture, which included few specifics, prompted the UN members to raise direct questions about the detention of many of Chinese lawyers since the crackdown on lawyers in July. They also demanded details on the number of political prisoners in Tibet. George Tugushi, member of the committee was quoted as saying, “Please explain the deaths that have occurred in Chinese detention facilities because people were unable to obtain (medical) treatment on time, based on a number of reports the committee has received.”
Wu Hailong, said his team would respond to the frank and sharp questions from the UN body the following day.
As for the questions relating to the Tibetan political prisoners, a deputy director of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, Jin Chunzin, replied that there are no such cases of political prisoners. “The allegation of cruel treatment of suspects from ethnic minority groups is groundless” she asserted.
Regarding the treatment of prisoners with reference to solitary confinement practices in Chinese prisons, Mr Li of the Public Security Ministry of China said that it was a management matter and not a punitive measure. They denied using iron interrogation chairs. They admitted using chairs known as “tiger chairs” but claimed they were for the safety of the detainees.
The New York Times reported that Golog Jigme, a Tibetan monk, who has been a victim of Chinese torture and this year received asylum in Switzerland, expressed shock after the hearing and said, “It is incredible that a country like China, which is highly regarded in the international community, would come here and use this platform to tell lies.”
Thus China’s indifference towards giving an open and honest account of situations inside China left many international right groups aggrieved.
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