Washington: Slamming China for its "poor"
human rights record, the Obama Administration has accused it
of harassing activists and lawyers, repressing Tibetans and
censoring e-mails.
In China, the government's human rights record "remains
poor and is worsening" in some areas, including increased
cultural and religious repression of ethnic minorities,
Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour,
Michael Posner, claimed.
"In Xinjiang... (there has been) harassment of activists
and public interest lawyers who are increasingly under
surveillance and are being repressed. There's continuing
repression in the Tibetan areas, limits on free expression,
and control of the Internet," he told reporters soon after
release of the annual State Department Human Rights Report.
Posner specifically highlighted two cases about China,
which are also mentioned in the report.
One is the case of Liu Xiaobo, who was found guilty in
December of subverting state power and sentenced to 11 years
in prison. "His crime is that he helped write a petition,
called Charter 08, which is basically a petition calling for
an expansion of human rights and democracy," Posner said,
adding this is a case of particular concern to the US.
The second case is of a human rights lawyer called Gao
Zhisheng, who was picked up by police and is thought to be in
detention though his family does not know where he is, he
said.
PTI
First Published: Friday, March 12, 2010, 16:55