Human Rights Group Details China’s Political Imprisonments

More than 1,700 people are imprisoned in China for political “offenses” ranging from printing sex books and a marriage manual to distributing a list of people arrested at a demonstration, a human rights group said Sunday.

Using a computer database and a variety of sources, Asia Watch said its report shows that Chinese political repression is increasing, not decreasing, as some U.S. officials have said. The U.S.-based human rights monitoring group called its report the most comprehensive account of arbitrary detention ever published.

Last year was the worst for political arrests and trials in China since the crackdown against the democracy movement in 1989, according to the report.

The report comes amid increased U.S. scrutiny of China’s human rights record as the Clinton Administration decides whether to continue normal trade relations with China.