A UN watchdog has urged China to end the rampant use of
torture in its prisons and close all secret jails.
The United Nations Committee Against Torture also called
for a halt to a crackdown on lawyers and activists.
It issued its report after questioning a large Chinese
government delegation as part of a two-day hearing.
The report gives Beijing one year to report back on
progress made in implementing key areas of the UN Convention against Torture.
"The Committee remains seriously concerned over
consistent reports indicating that the practice of torture and ill-treatment is
still deeply entrenched in the criminal justice system, which overly relies on
confessions as the basis for convictions," the committee said.
At the hearing to review China's record on torture, held
for the first time since 2008, China denied it held political prisoners and
said torture was banned, to derision from dissidents.
The committee, made up of 10 independent experts, said
200 lawyers have been rounded up in China since July, of which at least 25
remain in detention.
It also voiced alarm over the high number of deaths in
custody.
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