Amnesty writes openly to Chinese president

Updated July 8, 2008 13:31:49

Amnesty International has asked China for a full account of those detained or killed in riots in the Tibetan autonomous region in March. [Reuters]

International human rights organisation, Amnesty International, has published a letter to China's President Hu Jintao urging several key improvements on human rights.

Amnesty International is calling for the release of all prisoners held for expressing political views and for police to stop detaining people during a pre-Olympics clean-up.

They also want a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

Amnesty's secretary-general, Irene Khan, says if China addresses these human rights issues it will go a long way towards the Olympic Games, which begin on August 8, being remembered positively and not just on the sports field.

The open letter to the 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.

Amnesty has also asked Mr Hu and the Beijing government to reduce capital punishment and publish death penalty statistics; allow full freedom and access to Chinese and international journalists in the run-up to the Games; and release all those detained after March protests in Tibet.

In her letter Ms Khan says while there has 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."