The Chinese government is rewriting criminal procedure to legalise the disappearance of political activists, which would allow authorities to detain any citizen without giving reason or notification.
The new proposal, drafted by a committee of the National People's Congress, China's quasi-legislature, would allow government authorities to place criminal suspects under house arrest for up to six months.
The proposed revision would allow authorities to imprison in a secret location anyone who, under home surveillance, is found to hinder an investigation, the Scotsman reports.
Suspects' families would have to be told of their disappearance within 24 hours, unless doing so would hinder the investigation of crimes involving national security or terrorism.
The proposal, that is presently undergoing public review, has won some praise from legal experts, because it would give many ordinary criminal suspects new legal protections and rein in the ability of the authorities to commit abuses.
For example, the proposed text appears to bar the use of evidence obtained by torture. It would give most criminal suspects an unqualified right to see a lawyer, and would extend requirements that witnesses actually appear at trials to give testimony, the report said.
But at the same time, critics described the proposed revision as one of the most explicit backward steps in legal protections for people who offend the Chinese state since the country began moving toward a western-style legal system three decades ago.
According to critics, it would give security officials wide leeway to 'disappear' dissidents and other activists without telling anyone.
