AFP: Amnesty paints grim picture of human rights in China (Excerpt)

LONDON, May 30 (AFP) - China repressed basic freedoms throughout the country during 2000 using arbitrary detention, unfair trials, torture and the death penalty, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

The London-based human rights group said in its annual report that thousands of people were detained in China for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association or religion, and that many received long prison sentences.

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It said at least 1,511 people were sentenced to death last year and 1,000 executed, although the true figures were believed to be far higher.

Amnesty said many death sentences were passed on contentious evidence, such as confessions extracted under torture, and that some sentences were carried out within hours of sentencing.

The Amnesty International 2001 Report said followers of the banned Falungong spiritual movement faced harsh repression with at least 93 followers reported to have died in police custody, many after torture.

It said thousands, maybe even tens of thousands, of practitioners were in detention at the end of the year. Many were sentenced to "re-education through labour" without trial.

The report said scores of evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics who worshipped outside the "patriotic church" approved by the government remained in prison and that freedom of worship was severely constrained.

The Chinese authorities also stepped up their attempts to control use of the Internet by charging people with serious offences for using the Web to spread information about anything deemed to be politically sensitive.

The peaceful promotion of democratic or political reform was also punished with prison terms and "reform through labour," a move that also hit environmental or anti-corruption campaigners.

The report said political detainees were routinely denied due process of law.

Amnesty said torture was commonplace throughout the judicial system.

"Torture during interrogation was perpetrated against all types of detainees and was a component part of some high-profile anti-crime or political campaigns such as the crackdown on the Falungong," it said.

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Amnesty said hundreds of Buddhist monks and nuns in Tibet remained in jail often in particularly harsh conditions with poor quality food and lack of basic healthcare.

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