Beijing Olympics behind iron curtain

BEIJING (AFP-Friday, January 18) - - Britain's Gordon Brown arrived in China Friday for his maiden visit as prime minister, with tackling climate change and boosting two-way trade and investment top of the agenda...


In the July/August issue of Amnesty Magazine it reviews the promises made six years ago on Human Rights when Beijing was 'awarded' the 2008 Games. It lists 10 serious violations across the country which they say are "fuelling instability and discontent".

China's one-party regime executes more people each year than the rest of the world put together; two thirds of the 68 crimes punishable by death are non-violent crimes. Re-education through Labour' camps have been used to hold critics of the dictatorship for up to four years without charge or trial. RTL is also being used, the report says, to "clean up" Beijing in time for the Olympics. 'Evidence' in courts can be the result of torture and verdicts given after political interference. Many prisoners, subjected to torture, die in custody.

The IOC rejected the objections and said, "A Beijing Games would leave a unique legacy to China and to sports". Equated with the award of the Olympics to Japan in 1964 and South Korea in 1988, the event is seen as an economic 'coming-out party'. But Amnesty International says that far from improving, as the Chinese economy has opened up to the world, repression in China is getting worse.

...