On International Human Rights Day, Free Tibet has issued “The Tortured Truth”(1) a report, citing examples of China’s worsening track-record of torture and abuse inside Tibet.

Despite torture being prohibited in Chinese law, the truth is that not only is the Chinese government failing to prevent torture, but as Free Tibet exposes, Chinese Government policies, including forced re-education, provide the very conditions where torture is likely to take place. Tortured Truth reveals the difference between the Chinese Government’s promises and the true experiences of Tibetans.

In November 2008, the UN concluded in response to China’s state report that torture is not only “widespread” but is also “routine”. Tortured truth claims that torture is being permitted by the State as a weapon to suppress the Tibetan people.

The report highlights how the practice of torture is not simply confined to the aberrant behaviour of a few officials, but is instead ingrained in a system that is focussed on the extraction of confessions. The report highlights a series of measures passed by the government of the Kandze (Ch: Garze) Prefecture Government against monks, nuns and monasteries that took part in “turbulent activities” in spring 2008. In insisting that a monk or nun charged with a crime will remain in custody until “confessing” his or her alleged crime, these well thought-out measures clearly create the conditions for the practice of torture. The report notes that whilst obtaining a confession through the use of torture is technically prohibited under Chinese Criminal Procedural Law, the law does not proscribe the use of evidence obtained through torture being admitted in a Chinese court.

The report states that, since the conclusion of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture in 2006 that torture remained “widespread” in Tibet, the situation has actually worsened further. Free Tibet attributes the reason for such a deterioration to the rapid escalation in the sheer numbers of Tibetans detained arbitrarily since March 2008. Despite supposed safeguards contained in Chinese Criminal Procedural Law, Tibetan detainees have been routinely denied their basic legal rights since protests swept across the Tibetan Plateau in the spring. The identity of the detainees, their whereabouts, the nature of any charges brought against them and eventual trials are routinely shrouded in secrecy.

Placed outside the reach of even the most basic legal oversight, Tibetan detainees are at a significantly greater risk of torture or degrading treatment in Tibetan detention centres than they were even a year ago. Exacerbating this culture of secrecy is the severe threat of lengthy prison terms for any Tibetan passing on information to journalists or NGOs about Tibetans who have been detained, including the severity and methods of torture practised on Tibetans whilst in detention.

Director of Free Tibet, Stephanie Brigden, said:

“Despite claims by the Chinese Government that there are “extremely few cases of torture” the evidence tells a different story. Torture is not only  widely practised in Tibet but as the UN confirmed only last month, its practise is now routine. There is no doubt that the Chinese Government is permitting the use of torture as a weapon to suppress the Tibetan people.

The international community can no longer hide behind sound bites condemning China’s human rights track record in Tibet and must now take specific actions to reverse the worsening crisis in Tibet”

Ends

For further information: Stephanie Brigden, Director, Free Tibet
+44 (0)20 7324 4605 / +44 (0)753 052 8264
Or e-mail mail@freetibet.org

Notes to Editor:

(1) “The Tortured Truth” is available at:
http://www.freetibet.org/files/file/TheTorturedTruthFT.pdf

(2) The UN Committee’s conclusions following the periodic review of China’s record on torture are available at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/CAT.C.CHN.CO.4.pdf