A rehabilitation camp in south China for Internet addicts has been closed and 13 suspects detained by police for alleged involvement in the beating to death of a teenager, state press said Saturday.
The suspects worked for the Qihang Salvation Training Camp in the Guangxi region and are under investigation for inflicting intentional injury and the illegal operation of the camp, Xinhua news agency said.
Deng Senshan, 15, died last Sunday after he was allegedly beaten by trainers at the camp where his parents had sent him to cure his Internet addiction, previous reports said.
The unlicensed camp, located at the Guangxi Electronic Polytechnical School, was closed Friday afternoon, Xinhua, citing a government official.
The 122 teenagers enrolled in the camp have been retrieved by their parents, it added.
The case triggered outrage on the Internet here and drew worldwide publicity, while medical experts called for specific laws and regulations on the diagnosis and treatment of Internet addiction.
"The market of Internet addiction treatment in China is in a total mess due to lack of diagnostic standards and treatment guidelines," Xinhua quoted Tao Ran, director of China's first Internet addiction clinic at Beijing's Military General Hospital, as saying.
"The government should end this as soon as possible."
Tao said Internet addiction was a disease which needs medical treatment rather than the "ineffective" military-style training used by some rehab centres.
China has the world's largest number of Internet users with 338 million — more than the entire population of the United States.
More than 10 million of the country's 100 million teenage web surfers are Internet addicts, the China Daily said on Tuesday, citing a survey by the China Youth Internet Association last year.
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