Published by: World Tibet Network News ISSUE ID: 97/10/22
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, Oct 21 (Reuters) - For the first time, United Nations human rights experts have had private interviews with about 30 inmates in China, including political prisoners, the U.N. human rights spokesman said on Tuesday.
The experts, Kapil Sibal of India and Louis Joinet of France, carried out an 11-day mission at the invitation of Beijing, the third U.N. rights investigation in as many years.
They are senior members of the U.N. working group on arbitrary detention which reports to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the world body's main forum for examining abuses.
Chairman Sibal and deputy Joinet visited prisons in the Tibetan capital Lhasa and in Shanghai, a juvenile delinquents' penitentiary in Chengdu, a pre-trail detention centre and a "re-education through labour" administrative centre for women in Shanghai and custody cells in a Beijing tribunal, a U.N. statement said.
"In all the above facilities, the delegation could have access to a number of detained persons, both suspects, administrative detainees and convicted persons, whom it selected at random and interviewed without the presence of any official."
John Mills, U.N. human rights spokesman, said that the mission, which wrapped up last Thursday, had been "generally successful".
"Altogether, they interviewed around 30 prisoners, including political prisoners," Mills told Reuters.
"What is significant is this is the first time a U.N. human rights team has been able to operate in this way in China, visiting prisons that have not been visited by foreigners before and interviewing in private prisoners of their own choosing."
Those interviewed did not include prominent dissidents Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan, according to U.N. sources.
Wang, a student leader of the crushed Tiananmen Square democracy protests of 1989, was imprisoned for 11 years in 1996 for subversion. Wei was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 1995 for plotting to overthrow the government. He previously served 14-1/2 years of a 15-year sentence for subversion.
In Tibet, the U.N. team gave Chinese officials a list of prisoners they wanted to see, according to the spokesman. They were given access to four or five from that list, he added.
The experts attended a criminal trial in Beijing, but details were not available. They also met officials from the Supreme Court, Chief Prosecutor's Office, the ministries of justice, public security and foreign affairs, as well as judges, prosecutors, lawyers and academics, according to the statement.
"As a result of the mission, the team was able to have a better understanding of what is happening in China in terms of reform of criminal law and laws on administration of justice," Mills said.
The experts' report to the Commission is expected to be available early in 1998 -- just ahead of its annual meeting in March where Western countries and China traditionally clash.
Despite widespread allegation of abuses, the 53-member forum last April rejected a Western resolution criticising China's human rights record -- the seventh year since 1990.
Joinet, previously chairman of the five-member U.N. working group on arbitrary detentions, made a preparatory visit to China last year to negotiate terms and access for the full mission.
The first U.N. human rights mission to China was in 1995 by the U.N. special investigator for religious intolerance.
In its latest annual human rights report, the U.S. State Department accused China of effectively silencing all public dissent against the communist party and government in 1996.
President Bill Clinton holds a summit with President Jiang Zemin on October 29 in Washington, where China's human rights record -- a thorny Sino-American issue -- is expected to be on the U.S. agenda.
In May, Amnesty International issued a report documenting 303 people it believed to be detained for their activities during the pro-democracy protests eight years earlier. All were serving long prison sentences, ranging from eight years to life.
