The first United Nations investigator to visit China's detention centers in years has found that torture is still common and accused the government of obstructing his work.
"The practice of torture though on decline particularly in urban areas remains widespread in China," the United Nations said in a statement released at the end of the trip by Manfred Nowak, the body's special investigator on torture.
The statement also said government security authorities "attempted at various times throughout the visit to obstruct or restrict his attempts fact-finding."