Chinese production and export of police equipment primarily used for torture, such as electric shock wands and neck-and-wrist cuffs connected by a chain, has grown dramatically, enabling human rights violations at home and abroad, Amnesty International said yesterday in a report.
More than 130 Chinese companies, up from 28 about a decade ago, are now engaged in the development, production and export of law enforcement tools, most of which are legitimate, but many of which are inherently cruel and inhumane, the group said.
The 38-page report also cited as examples spiked batons and restraint chairs with a desk-like surface in front where arms can be shackled, often with ankle cuffs beneath that force detainees into painful contortions.
“There is no excuse whatsoever for allowing the manufacturing and trade in equipment for which the primary purpose is to torture or inflict cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment on people,” security trade and human rights researcher at Amnesty International Patrick Wilcken said in a statement.
China explicitly bans torture and mistreatment of inmates and it strongly denies widespread allegations that torture is often used by its police and Chinese Communist Party investigators.
Earlier this year, Zhao Chunguang (趙春光), a national official overseeing police detention facilities, said there had not been a single case of torture used to coerce a confession at any detention center throughout China for the past five years.
Amnesty says that it has documented a wide range of physical torture in China, including the use of electric shock batons.
And on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported that a court in northeastern China had convicted three police officers and four other non-police officers of torturing suspects and killing one person.
One victim said that he was restrained in an iron chair while being prodded with an electric shock baton, Xinhua said.
Amnesty urged China in the report to ban the production and export of several of the kinds of equipment that it says are torture tools or inherently cruel, especially to nations with poor human rights records. It said the tools are being shipped to Cambodia, Nepal, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Madagascar, Senegal and Uganda.
Faced with rising social tensions, China has been spending more money to maintain social order.
Its annual budget for domestic security skyrocketed over the past decade to 760 billion yuan (US$125 billion), higher than its defense budget last year.
The Chinese Ministry of Public Security did not respond to requests for comment.
The report, jointly compiled with UK-based Omega Research Foundation, which specializes in research on military, security and police equipment, said that Chinese-made rigid restraint chairs “have no legitimate law enforcement use” and that the UN Committee against Torture has recommended they be abolished.
Omega found 96 Chinese companies making or selling abroad electric shock stun weapons, which apply electrical shock directly to an individual.
The report says they can be abused as a torture tool when applied to sensitive body parts.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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