China repression worsens ahead of Games-report

BEIJING, Apr 30 (Reuters) The human rights situation and repression in China continue to worsen ahead of next year's Beijing Olympics, and the government has not yet fulfilled its media freedom pledge, Amnesty International said today.

Forced evictions to make way for Olympic projects and the detention and harassment of people who have protested the evictions is a particular worry, and one the International Olympic Committee (IOC) should raise with the government, the group said.

''The IOC cannot want an Olympics that is tainted with human rights abuses -- whether families forcibly evicted from their homes to make way for sports arenas or growing numbers of peaceful activists held under 'house arrest' to stop them drawing attention to human rights issues,'' said Catherine Baber, Amnesty's Deputy Asia Pacific Director.

Amnesty said in a report the IOC should make public concerns about human rights if it is unable to get Beijing to loosen up, adding ''the Olympics is apparently acting as a catalyst to extend the use of detention without trial''.

While Amnesty welcomed the government's decision to let a few veteran activists travel abroad, it said there was still ''serious risk of abuse'' for many other dissidents, like blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng.

Amnesty said Ye Guozhu, jailed for organising protests against forced evictions in Beijing, had been tortured in jail.

''The organisation ... urges the IOC to raise these allegations of forced evictions and related arrests with the Chinese authorities in an attempt to clarify the situation,'' the report added.

China seems to be overly pre-occupied with ensuring stability, which could backfire, it said.

''While such concerns are understandable for any country holding such a major international event, policies and practices must be founded on respect for rule of law and human rights, or they risk fuelling further discontent.'' And Beijing's crackdown on domestic media is intensifying, despite its media freedom promise, Amnesty said.

''The failure to ensure equal rights and freedoms for both foreign and domestic journalists smacks of double standards -- China has yet to meet its promise to ensure complete media freedom for the Olympics,'' Baber said.

REUTERS DH BST0630