Amesty slams Communist China over rights in Oympics run-up

Communist China has broken its Olympic promise...but not according to CCP officials--they are patting themselves on the back for a job well done!

"Qin stressed that China sees the respect and protection of human rights as a lofty target to which it dedicates unremitting effort. The Chinese government is committed to promoting democracy and legal systems, building up a country that is ruled by law and striving for a fair, just and harmonious society so as to realize the all-round development of its people." (more)

Letter by Joan Quain - An Amnesty International report just released criticises China's failure to honour human rights promises it made when bidding for the 2008 Olympics. With 687 days to go before the start of the Beijing Olympics, the report cited such "issues of concern" as: a lack of media freedom and free speech, the mistreatment and torture of human rights activists, lack of a fair trial for the 8 - 10,000 who receive the death penalty annually, extracting the organs of those who are killed by the death penalty, forced evictions for Olympic-related sites -- the list goes on.

Amnesty has sent the report to the International Olympic Committee, which has said it would act if human rights commitments are not met by Beijing. This, together with the Kilgour/Matas report on the rampant illegal harvesting of the organs of Falun Gong practitioners that has been going on for the past six or so years, should be enough to prompt the IOC to withdraw the Olympics from China altogether -- no compromises.

It's a travesty that China, with its abysmal human rights track record, was granted the honour of hosting the Games in the first place. It's not too late to remedy that.

Amnesty accuses China of breaking Olympic promises Ewen MacAskill

Olympic boycott call over organ claims