China denies UN torture findings

By Louisa Lim
BBC News, Beijing

Manfred Nowak was the first UN torture envoy to visit China

China has denied the findings of an UN rapporteur who concluded that torture was still widespread in the country.

China's foreign ministry said the findings did not conform with reality and said it hoped he would correct the wrong conclusion in his report.

It had taken a decade of negotiations before Beijing agreed to the visit.

The envoy, Manfred Nowak, said he had received allegations that prisoners were submerged in sewage, burned with cigarettes and deprived of sleep.

Now Beijing has hit back.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, accused Mr Nowak of jumping to conclusions during his two week visit to three cities.

He also denied Mr Nowak's allegations that public security officers had monitored his activities and tried to stop torture victims from meeting him.

The spokesman said China had made effective efforts to prevent torture.

However, these assertions are undermined by a number of cases that have recently surfaced. These have all highlighted how Chinese police used torture to force suspects to confess to crimes they did not commit.