"Indefinite detention causes distress and anxiety.
Ai's own 81-day detention caused an international outcry.
"This kind of detention causes much unnecessary misery".
He told the inquiry it was "clearly established" that prolonged time in immigration detention caused mental health problems.
"I think that the government of China thought that his detention caused more problems than it was worth," Mr. Specter said.
Some 60 per cent of detainees studied experienced disruption to their treatment as a result of being in detention, causing many to develop resistance to mainstream antiretroviral drugs, thus putting their lives at risk.
Welcoming the report, Dr Rosalyn Proops, officer for child protection at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: "These children are among the most vulnerable in our communities and detention causes unnecessary harm to their physical and mental health.
The documents also warn the government that children in detention suffer more serious mental health crises than adults, that their mental health deteriorates the longer they are detained and that detention causes children long-term mental health damage that will persist long after they are released.
Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, had made his capture a condition for any furlough Mr Arafat receives from his Ramallah internment.The news of Mr Saadat's detention caused eruptions in Gaza, Ramallah and Bethlehem, led by PFLP activists but not confined to them.
Israel, which says that Mr Saadat was the brain behind the assassination of Rahavam Zeevi, an Israeli minister, last October, had made his capture one of the conditions for any furlough Mr Arafat receives from his Ramallah internment.The news of Mr Saadat's detention caused protests in Gaza, Ramallah and Bethlehem, led by PFLP activists but not confined to them.
