By Susan Schwartz

STORY: A REPORT alleging widespread and systematic use of torture in China will be tabled at the United Nations on Tuesday.

The 10-member UN Committee Against Torture is reviewing the mainland's compulsory periodic progress report on its moves to eradicate torture.

Hong Kong Amnesty International China researcher Catherine Baber said the committee was particularly concerned about the level of deaths in police custody.

"Although the use of torture has been prohibited for three decades and has been a criminal offence in some circumstances since 1979, the gap between law and practice is still very wide,'' Ms Baber said.

"China has to be more transparent about how it deals with this.

"There is no justification for punishing people who speak out against this sort of thing," she said.

Falun Gong spokeswoman Hui Yee-han said 16 of their members had died in police custody on the mainland since the Central Government declared the group a cult in September last year.

"We hope the UN can help us so we are not persecuted," she said.

Ms Hui said Hong Kong members would publicly celebrate the first World Falun Dafa Day in SAR parks next Saturday.

"We hope to hold this day every year to proclaim to the world that Falun Gong is a good way," she said.

"We want to tell Hong Kong citizens about our group and show them the ordinary public practises Falun Gong."

Ms Hui said mainland members had been directed not to take part publicly in the celebrations because they feared another crackdown.

Although Falun Gong is banned on the mainland, it is still legal in Hong Kong and its activities are permitted as long as they comply with local laws.

An Amnesty International statement yesterday called on the UN Committee Against Torture to condemn China's use of torture in police stations, detention centres, prisons, "re-education through labour" camps and repatriation centres.

"Torture and ill-treatment are not only carried out behind closed doors," the statement says. "It is inflicted in public as a humiliation and a warning to others.

"Reports of torture increase during periodic `strike hard' campaigns when police are given the green light to use every means to achieve quick results.

"Officials frequently deny responsibility for deaths in custody, and in many cases, there is no autopsy, with police acting swiftly to cremate bodies before a full investigation is possible," the Amnesty International statement says.

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