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Robinson Stresses Xinjiang and Torture in China Photos

By Jeremy Page

BEIJING (Reuters) - U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said Thursday she would urge China not to use a war on terrorism to crack down on civil liberties and ethnic minorities, especially in its Muslim northwest. 

On her first visit to China since the September 11 attacks on the United States, Robinson also said she would press Beijing to set a date for a long-awaited visit by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture. 

``It is necessary to ensure that the requirement to combat terrorism is not used to clamp down on freedom of expression, legitimate dissent, freedom of association and so on,'' Robinson told Reuters in an interview. 

``I'll particularly raise the problem of the Uighur people in Xinjiang and other individual cases,'' said Robinson, shortly before starting two days of talks with China's leadership, including President Jiang Zemin (news - web sites). 

China has called for international support for its campaign against ethnic Uighur Muslim separatists in the northwestern region of Xinjiang whom it says have links to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), the man wanted by Washington for the September 11 attacks. 

Uighur militants have been blamed for sporadic attacks in China, including bus bombs in the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi, in 1997 that killed nine people. 

But human rights groups, Uighurs overseas and Western experts on Xinjiang say most Uighur activists have no links with bin Laden and campaign peacefully for greater political, economic and religious freedoms. 

London-based rights group Amnesty International has said China has executed several hundred Uighurs accused of separatist activities since the mid-1990s and detained, imprisoned or tortured thousands more. 

Police in Xinjiang said last month they had launched a fresh campaign against crime, including separatism and terrorism, sparking fears among rights activists of another wave of arrests and executions. 

``The information that I've been given is that there is a serious situation of imprisonment, detention and torture,'' Robinson said of the situation in Xinjiang.

SETTING A DATE 

Torture would be high on the agenda in her meetings with Chinese leaders, including Jiang Friday, Robinson said. 

``I will be raising the issue of addressing the problem of torture here in China,'' she said. ``I will be pressing for a date for the visit of the special rapporteur on torture.'' 

China has said it is willing to negotiate the terms of a visit, but has not made direct contact with the current special rapporteur, British law professor Sir Nigel Rodley, Robinson said. 

Rodley has been seeking a visit to China since 1996, but Beijing has refused to agree to give him access to detention centers of his choice and private interviews with inmates. 

Rodley is stepping down from his post next week and some diplomats say China is hoping his successor will be more flexible on the terms of a visit. 

But Robinson said the special rapporteur would definitely need to be able to talk freely to prisoners. 

``I am aware that for the special rapporteur to come it would have to be clear that there would be access and the opportunity to talk to prisoners out of the hearing of officials,'' Robinson said. 

Robinson also signed an agreement with China on the second phase of a  project to improve education about human rights among police, judges, lawyers and prison administrators.

© Uygur.Org  07/10/2001 19:10  A.Karakas