By Adrian Croft LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Rights groups urged British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Friday to publicly raise rights issues on a visit to China, saying Beijing had failed to fulfil pledges to improve the situation before the Olympics. A British member of the European Parliament, Glenys Kinnock, separately called on Miliband to press the China for action to end the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region. Amnesty International said it wanted Miliband to insist during his 6-day visit, starting this weekend, that peaceful protests during the Olympics were not met with state violence. "David Miliband must speak out publicly about human rights in China, not least because ordinary people in the country cannot do so without fear of persecution," Amnesty's UK Campaigns Director Tim Hancock said on the group's Web site. A Foreign Office spokesman said Miliband would raise human rights and Darfur in his talks with Chinese officials. "Over the past couple of decades, there has been real progress in economic and social freedoms in China but we do continue to have real concerns about human rights and civil and political freedoms. This is a live debate within Chinese society itself, right up to the top leadership," he said. Miliband's trip follows a visit to Beijing last month by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Brown raised human rights and democracy with Chinese leaders, British officials said. Britain is seeking to strengthen its ties with China, eyeing its potential as an economic superpower and a diplomatic heavyweight whose global influence is on the rise. Human Rights Watch published a letter to Miliband urging him to take "a strong public position in support of human rights". "The UK government must be candid about China's failure to meet its Olympics-related commitments to improving human rights," it said. Since the start of 2007, China has allowed foreign reporters to travel and report more freely across most of the country. But Human Rights Watch said foreign journalists were routinely harassed, detained and intimidated. Another rights group, Crisis Action, released a letter from Kinnock, wife of a former leader of Britain's ruling Labour Party, urging Miliband to press China for action on Darfur. "China must be made aware ... that as Sudan's political, economic and military partner, and protector, it must act responsibly and help to achieve the long-term stability the people of Darfur crave," she wrote. Oscar-winning film director Steven Spielberg withdrew last week as an artistic adviser to the Beijing Olympics over China's policy on Darfur. Beijing rejects attempts to use the Games to influence its policies. (Editing by Alison Williams)
Worshippers attend Friday prayers at the Kadhymiya shrine in Baghdad February 22, 2008. Powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr extended his Mehdi Army militia ceasefire by around six months on Friday, a ...
