7,000 forcibly sterilised in eastern China

yahoo/AFP: At least 7,000 people in eastern China were forcibly sterilised earlier this year by officials under pressure to limit the growth of the country's massive population.

Quoting lawyers who spoke to local family-planning officials, Time magazine said that between March and July, 7,000 people underwent forced abortions and sterilisations in Yinan county in the eastern province of Shandong.

"They told me they were doing this for my own good. But they have ruined my life," Time quoted one woman who it said had endured forced sterilisation as saying.

The magazine said that officials in Linyi denied any improper programme.

It further reported that the lawyers alleged that several villagers were beaten to death while under detention for trying to help family members avoid sterilisation.

In March, the report said, distraught peasants had complained to a local legal activist, Chen Guangcheng, of the forced sterilisations and the detention of family members.

Many people in his village, he told Time, had been imprisoned for defying the sterilisation order. Read more