Plans by China to legalise the secret detention of suspects have alarmed activists, who say the move would give authorities free rein and lead to a surge in cases.

The proposed change to China's criminal law would make it legal to detain suspects for up to six months at a time without charge in secret locations away from police stations and official prisons.

The practice -- known as "disappearance" -- became a popular method of silencing dissidents after February, when calls for Arab-style protests began appearing on Chinese websites.

Activists fear it could become even more widespread if the changes are passed and say the new legislation is a tacit acknowledgement that Chinese police are engaging in illegal practices.

"The Chinese governments proposed legislation would give the security apparatus free rein to carry out disappearances lawfully," Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

"Legalising secret detention puts detainees at even greater risk of torture and mistreatment."

In April, a UN human rights panel expressed rare public concern about the arrests of Chinese activists and lawyers, warning that "enforced disappearance is a crime under international law."

Among them was the internationally known artist and outspoken government critic Ai Weiwei, who was held without charge in a secret location for nearly three months this year before being released and charged with tax evasion.

Ai's sister has said the artist was kept in a tiny cell and watched constantly by two guards who worked three-hour shifts and even watched him when he showered.

Other high profile cases include 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, who disappeared into police custody for over a year before he was finally tried and sentenced to 11 years in prison for subversion in December 2009.

And three prominent human rights lawyers, Teng Biao, Liu Shihui and Li Tiantian have this year given separate accounts of their detentions.

Teng told how police turned up at the home of a friend he was visiting, dragged him into a van and took him away. He was released that night, but later taken away again and held incommunicado for more than two months.

Liu has said that police broke down his door in the middle of the night and ransacked his home, confiscating computers, before taking him to an undisclosed location where he was held for 108 days.

Activists detained in this way say that in many cases, there are no arrest warrants, few legal explanations, and their families are not told where they are.

Some interrogation sessions last for months, and there have been allegations of torture.

Gao Zhisheng, a well-known human rights lawyer, disappeared into police custody in February 2009, emerging once to reveal that he had been kidnapped by police and severely tortured. He has not been seen since.

If passed by the National People's Congress (NPC) -- or parliament -- the new rules will apply only to people "suspected of harming state security, terrorist activities or major corruption," according to the NPC website.

The NPC has allowed for public debate on the amendments until the end of the month, and the revised law could be passed as early as March next year.

China's Public Security Ministry and parliament both refused to respond to AFP questions on the issue.

Beijing routinely insists that the rights of its citizens are always protected, but Jerome Cohen, an expert on Chinese law at New York University, said the changes amounted to an acknowledgement that some police practices were illegal.

"The amendment purports to confine this sanction to certain cases but, as in the past and today, these limits are sure to be stretched in practice by the police, whose interpretations are seldom subject to challenge by any other authority," he said.

English-language versions of Teng Biao's account of his incarceration can be found at http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2010/12/teng-biao-a-hole-to-bury-you/.

Liu Shihui's ordeal is here: http://www.siweiluozi.net/2011/08/ive-only-begun-to-scratch-surface-liu.html.

Li Tiantian's account is here:

http://www.siweiluozi.net/2011/05/li-tiantian-fable-of-hornet-bird-and.html.

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