Chinese torture jails near Olympic venues, group says

THE CANADIAN PRESS, August 01, 2008

http://www.mytelus.com/sports/article.do?pageID=olympics/home&articleID=2966939&

OTTAWA - Falun Gong supporters say Chinese authorities are torturing prisoners of conscience in labour camps and jails close to Olympic venues.

And they've published an online guide, complete with maps, descriptions and photographs of seven facilities where they say hundreds of thousands languish.

The Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong says political dissidents and others work 18-hour days, are jabbed with electric cattle prods, tortured, and endure endless hours of "thought reform."

The group's website lists products known to have been manufactured at the camps and provides case summaries of current and former prisoners of conscience.

It says the facilities are in or near Beijing, Qingdao, Shanghai, Tianjin, Qinhuangdao and Shenyang.

The group says adherents of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement deemed a threat to the Chinese government, make up a huge percentage of labour camp detainees.

Supporters claim China's communist regime routinely imprisons, tortures, kills and harvests the organs of Falun Gong practitioners.

The Chinese government denies the claims.

On the Web: http://www.humanrightstorch.org/news/guide-to-Olympic-village-labor-camps/