In an attempt to stave off pro-democracy demonstrations such as those that have swept across the Middle East and parts of North Africa in recent months, Chinese officials are rounding up high-profile activists. After being whisked to secret locations, the dissidents are intimidated, abused and then barred from speaking about their ordeals.
But human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong is defying that order, saying he was beaten and intimidated during his period of detention, which lasted from February to April.
"I was beaten up, humiliated, made to sit motionless for hours a day in a windowless room," he said.
Jiang is among dozens of pro-democracy activists who have vanished this year, including artist Ai Weiwei, who was detained April 3 and remained in custody until June 22.
That case garnered international attention, and led several human-rights groups to claim it as evidence of deteriorating human rights conditions in the country.
Ai has declined to discuss his ordeal. However, Jiang is choosing to speak out over concerns that proposed laws would allow police to hold suspects in secret, without charge, for up to six months.
"The scariest part was they threatened my family, they said all of our lives were in their hands," Jiang says. "They told me I wasn't human."
While police are already detaining dissidents without charge, the lawyer for jailed nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo said the proposed new laws will make secret detentions legal and strip those detained of their rights.
Jiang agrees.
"When I was taken away, police didn't dare to admit they had me," he said. "They knew it was wrong, but now the law will be on their side."
With a report from CTV's Beijing Bureau Chief Ben O'Hara-Byrne
