08 July 2008
Amnesty writes to Chinese president
(AI) Amnesty International has published a letter to China's President Hu Jintao urging several key improvements on human rights. Amnesty is calling for the release of all prisoners held for expressing political views, and all those detained after the March 2008 protests in Tibet and for police to stop detaining people during a pre-Olympics clean up. Amnesty's secretary-general, Irene Khan, says if China addresses these human rights issues it will go a long way towards the Olympic Games being remembered positively and not just on the sports field. The open letter to the Chinese President says "hundreds of thousands of voices" have been obtained by Amnesty International over the past 12 months echoing Amnesty calls for China to honour a 2001 pledge toward human rights development. In her letter Ms Khan says, while there have been notable improvements on the human rights situation in China, "preparation for the Olympics has actually had a negative impact in some areas of human rights".