China announced yesterday a campaign to weed out government officials who torture and maltreat prisoners, the latest in a string of moves apparently aimed at the US over the abuse of Iraqi inmates.
The Supreme People's Procuratorate said it would investigate and punish anyone who "commits crimes connected with infringement of human rights," the China Youth Daily, a leading government-controlled newspaper, reported.
"This special movement will last one year, and starts right now," said vice-general procurator Wang Zhenchuan.
He said the campaign would focus on five key human rights areas including illegal detention, torture and maltreatment of prisoners, and malpractices that cause serious losses of people's lives and property.
"Those criminal cases must be investigated wherever they happen," said Wang.
China's foreign ministry has twice raised the issue of prisoner abuse in Iraq, voicing shock at the images and calling for an immediate investigation.
The state-run media has been even more forthright, saying the abuses "clearly torpedo America's high-sounding words and phony righteousness."
China and the US are at loggerheads over each others human rights records and Beijing ratcheted up the pressure again yesterday with a blistering criticism of Washington through its official Xinhua news agency.
Citing Chinese human rights experts, Xinhua said the abuse scandal exposed the US as a "hypocrite" with "double standards" on human rights.
"The abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers ruined mankind's dignity and ruthlessly trampled human rights," the agency cited China Society for Human Rights Studies vice chairman Dong Yunhu as saying.
China's own prisons are notorious for maltreatment and torture. Access for independent observers is regularly turned down.
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