(Clearwisdom.net) On September 21, Central News Agency (CNA) reported that United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur Manfred Nowak stated today that torture is still widespread in China and political dissidents, Falun Gong practitioners and minority groups are torture victims.

Nowak is the first UN Special Rapporteur who was allowed to enter China to investigate. He submitted a report to the "Human Rights Council" yesterday, which documented the communist regime's systematic human rights persecution through torture.

According to CNA, Nowak stated in a press conference today that torture is a crime that severely violates human rights and inflicts physical and mental pain as well as fear upon victims. During his two-week investigation and interviews, he found that torture is still widespread in China.

Nowak said, ""I was particularly concerned about the continuing practice of forced re-education of persons with dissident or non-conformist opinions, aiming at changing their personality and breaking their will, both in special re-education through labor camps, regular prisons, and even in pre-trial detention facilities."

In 2005, Nowak visited Tibet, Xinjiang and Beijing from November 21 to December 2. He said that minority groups, Falun Gong practitioners, dissidents, human rights activists and religious members are the principal victims of torture in China.