"The use of torture is widespread in China and the country's legal system needs a major overhaul for the situation to improve, a top U.N. envoy said on Friday, adding the government had obstructed his investigations.

Manfred Nowak, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, said his team was under frequent surveillance during a two-week trip that included Tibet and the northwestern Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang and was granted after 10 years of lobbying by his office.

There was also evidence authorities had intimidated victims and family members the U.N. team tried to interview, he said." [Full Story]