Published by: World Tibet Network News, Tuesday, Mar 12, 1996

By RUTH YOUNGBLOOD

BEIJING, March 12 (UPI) -- Human rights violations stemming from repressive laws and overzealous abuse of power have reached such a massive scale that "no one is safe" in China, a human rights group said Tuesday.

Despite the enormous economic changes accompanying a dizzying modernization drive, the London-based Amnesty International said dissent and any activity viewed as a threat to the political order are routinely quashed.

"There is no sign of fundamental changes in the official human rights policy or in aspects of the legal system which foster gross and systematic human rights violations," Amnesty said in its 118-page report, "No one Is Safe."

The extensive account was released ahead of the annual meeting this month of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. Officials from the United States, European Union and Japan have said they will back a measure censuring China, which failed by one vote last year.

Amnesty listed political dissidents, human rights defenders, labor rights activists, Tibetans, Muslim ethnic groups, religious organizations, couples violating the single-child mandate, and those speaking out for their rights as "targets of repression."

Anyone crossing the authorities is at risk of torture, it said.

"Torture is routinely practiced in many parts of China, despite the government's declared opposition to its use," Amnesty alleged.

"People who were not suspected of any crime have been tortured because they became involved in disputes with police and other officials, or because they attempted to defend their rights," the report maintained.

The victims come from all walks of life, including children and the elderly, Amnesty said, noting those most vulnerable are the less educated or less privileged, such as peasants, the unemployed and vagrants.

It cited as an example Yan Zhengxue, a 50-year-old painter and deputy of a local People's Congress in east China's Zhejiang province. Yan was detained following an argument with a Beijing bus driver and, although he was not suspected of a crime, was taken to the Haidian district police station.

"The tall thin one boxed my ears five or six times, then hit me with his electric truncheon, forcing me to the floor," Yan was quoted as saying about his treatment from police.

"Then they put handcuffs on me... After several blows to my head and face I saw stars and fell to the floor. They pulled me to my feet by my hair and continued the beating.

"By now, I was nauseous and wanting to vomit... At last I collapsed on the floor and could not struggle," Yan said. "They went on kicking my stomach and groin."

Yan was pushed out of the station almost unconscious, Amnesty said, and a passerby took him to a hospital. Although Yan filed a suit against his attackers, police framed him on a misdemeanor charge and he was sent to a labor camp.

The most common forms of torture include severe beatings, whippings, the use of electric batons that give powerful shocks, handcuffs or leg- irons causing intense pain, and suspension by the arms, Amnesty said.

Others include incarceration in tiny or dark cells without heat, ventilation or sanitation; handcuffing for prolonged periods; exposure to intense cold or heat; deprivation of food or sleep and being made to sit or stand without moving.

Amnesty also mentioned cases in which prisoners and suspects were tied and hung up, had boiling water poured over them, were hit with bottles or burned with cigarettes.

"In many instances, torture and ill-treatment have resulted in death," Amnesty claimed.

Liang Rihua was arrested on suspicion of stealing chickens, Amnesty said, and tortured to death by police determined to force a confession.

Officers from the Tang Peng station in southern Guangdong province's Lianjiang County "handcuffed Liang's hands behind his back, tied an electric wire to the handcuffs and suspended him by the wire from a window frame with his feet barely touching the ground," the report said. He died within a few hours.

Noting the government is accountable under Chinese law to curb torture and has an international obligation under the Convention Against Torture to prevent it, Amnesty charged, "Its failure to do so indicates that torture is in effect tolerated in the exercise of state power."