 The flourishing trade, manufacture and export of tools of torture by Chinese companies is fuelling human rights violations across Africa and Asia, new research by Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation reveals. The new report - China’s Trade in Tools of Torture and Repression - shows there are now more than 130 Chinese companies involved in the production and trade of potentially dangerous law enforcement equipment – compared to only 28 Chinese companies a decade ago.  Image copyright EPA Image caption Chinese companies are making goods such as this torch, which delivers an electric shock 
 
 A growing number of Chinese companies are exporting "tools of torture" such as electric shock batons and spiked metal batons, Amnesty International says in a report. “This trade – which causes immense suffering – is flourishing because the Chinese authorities have done nothing to stop companies supplying these sickening devices for export or to prevent policing equipment falling into the hands of known human rights abusers.” 
 
 Chinese companies – most of which are state-owned – have an increasingly strong presence in the global market for law enforcement equipment. China is the only country known to manufacture spiked batons – which have metal spikes along the entire length of the baton or are plastic batons with a spiked metal head. 'Flawed system' 
 
 Amnesty said China was the only country known to manufacture spiked batons, which it said were "specifically designed as implements of torture". Spiked batons have been exported to security forces in Nepal and Thailand and have been reportedly used by police in Cambodia, while Chinese made electric shock batons are being carried by police in Ghana, Senegal, Egypt and Madagascar, the report said. The research found 29 Chinese companies involved in the export trade were advertising inherently cruel electric stun batons. "These devices make it easy for security officials to apply extremely painful multiple shocks by hand to sensitive areas of the body including the genitals, throat, groin or ears without long-lasting physical traces," the group said. Scores of Chinese companies manufacture and trade abusive restraint devices including heavy weighted leg cuffs and rigid restraint chairs; one company manufactures neck combination cuffs. One company – China Xinxing Import / Export Corporation – which has advertised equipment including thumb cuffs, restraint chairs, electric shock stun guns and batons – stated in 2012 that it has links with more than 40 African countries and its trade with Africa was worth more than US$100 million. Amnesty International and Omega found evidence of what appear to be Chinese manufactured electric shock batons being carried by police in Ghana, Senegal, Egypt and Madagascar. "While some of the exports are no doubt used in legitimate law enforcement operations, China has also exported equipment that has inhumane effects, or poses a substantial risk of fuelling human rights violations by foreign law enforcement agencies," the report said. Two months later, Chinese made riot control equipment was used by Ugandan security officials to harshly suppress protests against the rising cost of living in the country. "China's flawed export system has allowed the trade in torture and repression to prosper," said Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty's security trade and human rights researcher. There is an urgent need for the Chinese authorities to fundamentally reform its trade regulations to end the irresponsible transfer of law enforcement equipment to agencies who will likely use it to violate human rights,” said Patrick Wilcken. One practitioner of banned Falun Gong spiritual movement told Amnesty how she was tortured with an electric baton on her face: 
 
 "It's a kind of torture the police call 'bengbao popcorn' because your face splits open and looks like popped corn." It smelled horrible, the smell of burning skin.” 
 
 The report also highlights the widespread misuse of mechanical restraint devices on detainees in China. Amnesty International and Omega are urging the Chinese authorities and those of all other countries to: 
 
 - impose an immediate ban on the production and trade of inherently abusive equipment 
 
 - immediately suspend or deny trade licences for the supply of other equipment to law enforcement agencies and forces where there is a substantial risk the equipment will be used to commit or facilitate serious human rights violations 
 
 - establish export control regulations and practices for the control of security and police equipment that can have a legitimate use but is easy to abuse 
 
 - end all torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, as well as the use of arbitrary force, and investigate all allegations of such acts to bring the perpetrators to justice.
– Chinese firms are widely and in many cases "openly" distributing devices that can readily be used for torture, Amnesty International says in a new report. The number of companies involved has surged from 28 to more than 130 in the past decade, the activist organization notes, and most of these firms are government-owned. Pointing to "intrinsically cruel" equipment, Amnesty says that "while some of the exports are no doubt used in legitimate law enforcement operations, China has also exported equipment that has inhumane effects or poses a substantial risk of fueling human rights violations by foreign law enforcement agencies" in Africa and Asia, the BBC reports. Among the items are shock batons, which "make it easy for security officials to apply extremely painful multiple shocks by hand to sensitive areas of the body, including the genitals, throat, groin, or ears, without long-lasting physical traces." There are also spiked batons (no other country is known to make these), heavy leg cuffs, and neck shackles. Cambodia, Egypt, Ghana, Nepal, Thailand, Madagascar, and Senegal are among the recipients, notes the report, which calls on China to "fundamentally reform its trade regulations." China's foreign ministry says it has "no knowledge" of the practice, noting a "strong bias" at Amnesty against the country, CNN reports.