BEIJING — A United Nations special envoy said Friday that torture remains prevalent in China, as he completed a long-awaited fact-finding mission that provided a look into the country's secretive prison system.
"The practice of torture, though on decline particularly in urban areas, remains widespread in China," said Manfred Nowak, the U.N. Human Rights Commission's special investigator on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment.
The envoy said much more work was needed to bring China's criminal justice system up to international standards, including reforms that would offer such basics as the right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence.
The U.N. delegation appealed to Beijing to end the secrecy surrounding its death penalty system and reduce the number of crimes that qualify for capital punishment.
China purportedly executes more criminals than the rest of the countries combined, but it considers the exact figures a state secret.
During the two-week mission, which was long resisted by the Chinese government, Nowak and his team were allowed to meet with about 30 detainees in Beijing, Tibet and the Muslim-dominated Xinjiang region.
But many were afraid to talk to the U.N. personnel for fear of retribution, the envoy said. Those who did often requested anonymity.
Among the few willing to speak publicly about their experiences was He Depu, 49, a political prisoner sentenced in 2003 to an eight-year term for his involvement in the banned China Democracy Party.
He told the investigators he had been forced to lie prostrate for 85 days in solitary confinement, under a blanket with his hands and feet exposed at all times.
He said he was guarded by four armed men and was not allowed to get up except to eat and use the toilet. He often could not sleep for fear of moving his hand in the wrong way. Once he tried to touch a radiator to see whether it was warm, and as punishment was deprived of dinner, he said.
His wife was put under constant surveillance, he said, with police setting up a booth in front of her house.
The U.N. team found it difficult to speak with alleged victims or relatives in places other than prisons, Nowak said. The investigators were frequently monitored by security agents. The people they tried to visit were often subject to intimidation or were prevented from approaching them.
