Tuesday, 28 May, 2002

The annual review by the international human rights group Amnesty International has highlighted increased abuses in many countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

The group [...] accused the Chinese Government of using the war against terrorism to justify action against ethnic Uighur separatists, claiming they are linked to the al-Qaeda network.

Amnesty International

There can be no trade-off between human rights and security

[...]

Report on China

Amnesty said a campaign against crime in China led to a massive increase in executions - even for crimes such as bribery, tax fraud and selling harmful foods - and "a new wave of executions of people labelled as 'separatists'
or 'terrorists'" in the wake of 11 September.

Torture and ill-treatment remained widespread and appeared to increase against certain groups

The group also said around 200 members of the banned Falun gong group allegedly died in custody as a result of torture over the past year.