Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Amnesty sulla Cina e le Olimpiadi

 31 March 2008
Liu Jingmin, Vice-President of the Beijing Olympic Bid Committee, said in 
2001 that allowing Beijing to host the Games would "help the development of 
human rights". Seven years on, China's human rights record shows little sign 
of improvement, according to an Amnesty International report.
It was hoped that the Games would act as a catalyst for reform but much of 
the current wave of repression against activists and journalists is 
occurring not in spite of, but actually because of the Olympics, according 
to the report China: The Olympics countdown - crackdown on activists 
threatens Olympics legacy.
Positive changes such as a reform of the death penalty system and a greater 
reporting freedom for foreign journalists have been overshadowed by stalled 
reform of detention without trial, repression of human rights defenders and 
internet censorship.
The report also highlights the Chinese authorities' recent crackdown on 
protesters in Tibet, which has led to serious human rights violations since 
10 March 2008. Chinese authorities have resorted to measures that are 
reported to have included unnecessary and excessive use of force, including 
lethal force, arbitrary detentions and intimidation.
Hundreds of people have been detained in response to the unrest. They could 
face torture and other ill-treatment by China's security forces, especially 
those accused of "separatist" activities.
The near total media blackout on Tibet and the surrounding areas has not 
only made it difficult to confirm reports, but is a betrayal of official 
promises to ensure "complete media freedom" in the run-up to the Olympics.
In China too, many activists are held as prisoners of conscience after 
politically motivated trials. Growing numbers are kept under house arrest. 
Broad and vaguely defined crimes against national security, such as 
"separatism", "subversion" and "stealing state secrets", are used to 
prosecute those engaged in legitimate and peaceful human rights activities.
Land rights activist Yang Chunlin was sentenced to five years in prison on 
25 March for "inciting subversion" after he spearheaded a petition campaign 
under the banner "We don't want the Olympics, we want human rights". He was 
initially denied access to lawyers on the grounds that his case apparently 
involved "state secrets". He was also reported to have been tortured by the 
police in detention, but was denied the opportunity to raise these 
allegations in court.
Housing rights activist Ye Guozhu is serving a four-year prison sentence 
after he applied for permission to hold a demonstration against forced 
evictions in Beijing. He was convicted in December 2004 of "picking quarrels 
and stirring up trouble" because of his opposition to the seizure and 
demolition of property to make way for new construction projects for this 
year's Olympic games.
In May 2006, Beijing extended use of a form of detention without trial 
called Re-education Through Labour (RTL), to "clean up" the city's image 
before the Olympics. The system targets those who have committed minor 
offences but are not legally considered criminals. They are forced to work 
for long hours, and can be detained for up to four years. RTL is much 
criticised in China. Long heralded - but now stalled - reform of the system 
would be a major human rights improvement.
Beijing housing rights activist Wang Ling was reported to have been 
sentenced to 15 months RTL in October 2007 for signing petitions and making 
banners in protest against the demolition of her property to make way for 
Olympic construction. She is believed to be held at Daxing RTL facility in 
Beijing.
Despite official promises of "complete media freedom" made in July 2001, the 
authorities are continuing to use the crime of "inciting subversion" and 
other state security offences to prosecute and imprison writers and 
journalists exercising their fundamental human rights to freedom of 
expression.
The internet is being heavily censored too. Cartoon police icons now warn 
many of China's 210 million internet users to stay away from "illegal" 
websites. These virtual police appear to encourage self-censorship by 
reminding users that the authorities closely monitor web activity. China is 
also believed to operate the most extensive, technologically sophisticated 
and broad-reaching system of internet censorship and filtering in the world.
Text messaging is also being monitored. In December 2007, the Beijing city 
authorities issued a notice stating that those who use text messages to 
"endanger public security" or "spread rumours" will be investigated.
China is the world leader in the use of the death penalty, despite official 
statements that the restoration of Supreme People's Court (SPC) review led 
to a significant reduction in the number of executions in China in 2007. But 
publication of full national statistics and other detailed information on 
the death penalty in China is essential to support such assertions. The drop 
in executions may be partly due to a growing "backlog" of prisoners awaiting 
execution as their case is reviewed by the SPC.
Amnesty International's report calls on the Chinese authorities to: give 
immediate access to Tibet and surrounding areas to UN investigators and 
independent observers; cease arbitrary detention, intimidation and 
harassment of activists; end punitive administrative detention; allow full 
and free reporting across the whole of China for all journalists; free all 
prisoners of conscience and reduce the number of capital crimes as a step 
towards abolition.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/what-human-rights-legacy-beijing-olympics-20080401
 

 independent observers; 
ROTFL

 ha scritto nel messaggio 
news:4803383e$0$40209$4faf...@reader5.news.tin.it...

Sintetico e persuasivo :)) 


I soliti coglioni.
Che vadano a parlare di diritti umani a Riad o a Guantanamo.
Li trovo penosi nella loro poco eroica ipocrisia.
Saluti
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