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[
back ] BEIJING, Jan 15, 2001 -- (Reuters) A rights groups said Chinese police detained four dissidents on Monday for urging the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to use Beijing's bid for the 2008 Games to press China to free jailed democracy activists. The Hong Kong-based Information Center for Democracy & Human Rights in China said the four were among 28 dissidents who signed a letter on December 31 urging the IOC to press China to release jailed activists. The four detained in the eastern city of Hangzhou included Hu Jiangxia, wife of Wang Youcai, a leader of the outlawed China Democracy Party who is serving an 11-year prison sentence for subversion, the group said. Hu was released after three hours in custody with a warning not to lobby against China's Olympics bid again, but colleagues Lin Hui, Mao Qifeng and Shan Chengfeng were still being held on Monday afternoon, it said. In their letter, the dissidents argued that China's continued suppression of dissent violated the Olympic spirit. They called for the release of dissidents, including those who tried to register the China Democracy Party as the country's first opposition party in 1998. The party was banned and at least 25 senior members of the party are in prison for subversion. Founder Xu Wenli is serving a 13-year sentence and is believed to be in poor health. Beijing is favorite to win the 2008 bid over the other finalists -- Paris, Toronto, Osaka and Istanbul. The IOC is to make its decision in July. 2008 BID HAS CRITICS But critics say the city must take drastic steps to clean up its heavily polluted environment and improve its human rights record, especially on freedom of speech and the press. In a report condemned by China, the British parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee said in November that Beijing's human rights record had deteriorated badly over the past two years and it should not be allowed to stage the Games. Several U.S. lawmakers have launched a motion opposing Beijing's bid on human rights grounds, citing among other problems the government's suppression of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. Western opposition to Beijing's 2008 bid touches a raw nerve in China because many believe Britain and other Western countries led a coalition against China's bid for the 2000 Olympics, which was hosted by Sydney. Many opposed Beijing in the 1993 vote because of the massacre of student-led demonstrators around Tiananmen Square in 1989. Chinese state media said last year Beijing was contemplating throwing the square -- mostly known to the outside world for the 1989 massacre - into its 2008 Olympic bid as the venue for beach volleyball. Beijing Mayor Liu Qi raised eyebrows in September when he told an Olympics rally the city would "resolutely smash and crack down on Falun Gong and other evil cults"and drive away beggars, the homeless and prostitutes to prepare for the 2008 bid. --end-- [
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