Tesco expressed shock at claims that some of its Christmas cards may have been made by prisoners in China (Tolga AKMEN)
<p>London (AFP) – The Briton who made public a message in a Christmas card claiming to be from Chinese prisoners involved in forced labour on Monday dismissed Beijing’s denial as "lies".</p><p>Peter Humphrey, a former fraud investigator and journalist, wrote an article about the note allegedly penned by foreign inmates in Shanghai’s Qingpu prison — where he himself was once held.</p><p>A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry denied there was any forced labour by foreign convicts at Qingpu and attacked Humphrey for inventing a "farce" to "hype himself up".</p><p>Contacted by AFP for his response, Humphrey — who is now based in Britain — said: "It’s the kind of answer they have given to every allegation of human rights abuses that is ever mentioned.</p><p>"This is really completely to be expected, because nothing except lies ever comes back to the world when any such issue arises," he said.</p><p>The note was found by a London schoolgirl in a Christmas card sold by supermarket giant Tesco, and claimed to be from foreign prisoners in Qingpu "forced to work against our will".</p><p>Tesco expressed shock at the revelation and announced it was both stopping the sale of the cards and ceasing production at the Chinese factory involved while it investigated.</p><p></p><p>- ‘I know the handwriting’ -</p><p></p><p>The note asked whoever received it to contact Humphrey, who spent nine months in Qingpu during almost two years in custody in China for illegally obtaining personal information — charges he dismissed as "bogus".</p><p>He told AFP he had never met the girl or her family, but when they got in touch and showed him a copy of the note, "I absolutely knew it was true, in my gut, because I know the handwriting."</p><p>He would not name the author for fear of repercussions, but noted it was not the first time prisoners in China had got a message out this way.</p><p>"It’s too dangerous for them to use correspondence, phone calls or consular meetings" to raise concerns about conditions, he said.</p><p>Humphrey said he did not hold Tesco responsible, if it were found to have used prison labour.</p><p>"China makes it impossible for a company to drill down right to the bottom of the supply chain to identify the small contractors," he said.</p><p>And he said he believed the prisoners involved were working against their will.</p><p>"They don’t mean that they are chained to a factory table and whipped. What they mean is that they have been put in a position where they are coerced," he said.</p><p>Humphrey said he had heard from former prisoners that in the last 12-18 months, the jail had blocked remittances from families for inmates’ daily necessities like toiletries.</p><p>"They blocked that as a way to try and force the prisoners to work in the labour production, where they can earn £10 to £12 (about 12 to 14 euros, $13 to $15) worth of renminbi per month," he said.</p><p>He added that a merit system allowing prisoners to shave time off their sentences, for example by working or studying, was now open only to those prepared to do labour.</p><p></p>

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.