BEIJING, 27 May 2004 — China, which has expressed “shock” at the US abuse of Iraqi prisoners, sent officials to Guantanamo Bay to help in tough interrogation of its own nationals, Amnesty International said yesterday.

A Chinese delegation visited the US military prison in Cuba in the autumn of 2002, and in some instances told their American hosts how to get their prisoners to talk, the London-based rights group said.

“It is alleged that during (the delegation’s visit), the detainees were subjected to intimidation and threats, and to ‘stress and duress’ techniques such as environmental manipulation, forced sitting for many hours and sleep deprivation,” it said. Citing “credible” reports, Amnesty said some of the interrogation techniques were “alleged to have been on the instruction of the Chinese delegation”.

The rights group identified the detainees as Uighurs, members of a Muslim, Turkic-speaking people that forms the largest ethnic group in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region. Amnesty spokeswoman Saria Rees-Roberts declined to describe the sources of the report, citing concerns about their safety.

China has repeatedly expressed shock at the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of American soldiers and told Washington it must abide by international conventions.

“We are shocked by the fact that Iraqi prisoners have been ill-treated and condemn this kind of activity in violation of international conventions,” the Foreign Ministry said earlier this month.

It has called for “complete investigations” into the abuses in Iraq and said those responsible should be punished according to law. The United States has admitted that several of the suspected Al-Qaeda and Taleban prisoners at Guantanamo were abused by guards, who have been charged, but said there was no systemic abuse of prisoners at any time.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry yesterday did not respond to requests for comments on the Amnesty report.

Amnesty said there were currently about 22 Uighur detainees in Guantanamo, captured during the war in Afghanistan and transferred to US custody in early 2002.

“Most are now believed to be in Guantanamo’s Camp 4, where detainees are held in less harsh conditions prior to their release or in reward for their ‘cooperation’,” Amnesty said.

However, the group said it feared for the safety of the Uighurs if they were to be repatriated to China.

“Amnesty International believes that any assurances provided by the Chinese authorities that detainees returned to China will be treated in accordance with international law and standards should not be trusted,” it said.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said earlier this month that US authorities were in the process of identifying Guantanamo detainees who might no longer be of “significant threat or may not be wanted on criminal charges”.

Among them were Uighurs, but no definitive decision had been made yet on what should happen to them, Boucher said.

China has been accused of using the US-led war on terror as an excuse to intensify a clampdown on independence movements that are believed to have a strong following in Xinjiang.

It has enlisted foreign support in this effort, persuading both the US government and the United Nations to put the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, an Uighur group, on their respective lists of terrorist organizations.