London: China's human rights record is getting worse because of, not despite, the looming Beijing Olympics as it bids to present a united front by cracking down on dissent, Amnesty International has said.

With just over four months until the opening ceremony, Amnesty warned it was increasingly unlikely the games would improve rights in China and urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and world leaders to speak out publicly against rights violations.

Politicians risk being implicated in a "conspiracy of silence" if they fail to address issues such as the crackdown in Tibet, the London-based human rights group said in a new report, which also contained fresh criticism of the IOC.

"Unless the Chinese authorities take steps to redress the situation urgently, a positive human rights legacy for the Beijing Olympics looks increasingly beyond reach," the report said.

"It is increasingly clear that much of the current wave of repression is occurring not in spite of the Olympics but actually because of the Olympics."

A pre-Olympic crackdown on critics -- who the report said are targeted "in an apparent attempt to portray a stable or harmonious image to the world by August 2008" -- had "deepened not lessened because of the Olympics," Amnesty chief Irene Khan added.

Examples include the case of Ye Guozhu, serving a four-year jail sentence after he applied for permission to protest against forced evictions in Beijing to clear the way for Olympic building works, Amnesty said.

It called on politicians and the IOC to speak out on the situation in China and Tibet, hit by three weeks of bloody protests against China.
Source : PTI