【The Age】Net addict son 'beaten to death' at camp

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Net addict son 'beaten to death' at camp
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/net-addict-son-beaten-to-death-at-camp-20090804-e87r.html



Deng Senshan
        
August 4, 2009 - 5:23PM

A teenager wasreportedly beaten to death by trainers at a rehabilitation camp inChina where his parents had sent him to cure his internet addiction.

Thethree supervisors who allegedly beat Deng Senshan, 16, were arrestedafter the boy's death early on Sunday, his father Deng Fei told the Global Times.

"Weare investigating a case where a high school student was beaten todeath by his camp supervisors. The case is still under investigation,"a police officer in Nanning, Guangxi region, was quoted as saying.

DengFei said he paid 7000 yuan ($A1190) to give his son a month's trainingat the Guangxi Qihuang Survival Training Camp to rid him of hisaddiction to the internet.

But instead, he said,the boy was put in solitary confinement shortly after his arrival andthen beaten to death by his trainers who scolded him for running tooslowly.

"My son was very healthy and was not acriminal. He just had an internet addiction when I left him at thecamp," Deng Fei told the paper.

"We can't believe our only son was beaten to death."

China has the world's largest number of internet users with 338 million -- more than the entire population of the United States.

Morethan 10 million of the country's 100 million teenage web surfers areinternet addicts, the China Daily said, citing a survey by the ChinaYouth internet Association last year.

There is controversy over the treatments for internet addiction and how it is diagnosed. The health ministry last month banned the use of electroshock therapy to treat internet addiction, the China Daily said.

            AFP