Download Stopping the Torture Trade - Omega Research Foundation

© Robin Ballantyne/Omega
Foundation
Stopping the torture trade
36
weapons, with a
Taiwanese company
reportedly setting up
manufacturing facilities
in mainland China. In
1995 the managing
director of a Scottish
company, ICL Technical
Plastics, admitted
selling electro-shock
batons to China in 1990, stating that “the
Chinese wanted to copy them”. Chinese
factories now mass produce and export them.
Reports indicate that Chinese companies
produce a wide range of electro-shock
weapons and are exporting them to a growing number of
countries. Reports have indicated that Chinese companies have
exported electro-shock weapons to Cambodia, 34 Indonesia 35 and
North Korea — all countries where electro-shock torture has
been reported.
In January 1998 the North Korean police were reported to
have placed orders for thousands of electro-shock batons, tear
gas guns, and riot shields following a trip to China. It was
reported that “a delegation led by Major-General Mun Sang Kil,
director of logistical services at the North Korean Ministry of
Public Security, visited the northern Chinese city of Tianjin in
early November. The city is home to three major policeequipment
factories that have been singled out by international
human rights organisations for producing instruments of
torture.” 36
In January 1997 it was reported that the police in Phnom
Penh, Cambodia, were using powerful electro-shock batons to
quell public disorder and to question suspects. Thun Saray,
president of the human rights organization ADHOC, was
reported as saying that:
“Chinese-made batons are being used to coerce suspects
held in police custody into making confessions before
charges are laid.” 37
A salesman
demonstrates an
electro-shock baton at
an arms fair in Taiwan,
1998.
He called for the batons to be taken away from police until the