Discussion on labor camps resumes in full force

Danwei has a very interesting translation of a petition on China's labor camps:

Sixty-nine legal scholars and lawyers led by Mao Yushi and He Weifang have sent a letter to the NPC Standing Committee and the Legal Affairs Office of the State Council urging the state to eliminate the practice of re-education through labor.

Earlier signs this year already suggested that China was preparing a decision to abolish the internationally criticized method of arbitrary detention by the police to earn some brownie points ahead of the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
The petition seems to be part of a lobbying effort to support these earlier moves to abolish the camps. That would also mean that the police will lose their last extra-legal tools to detain people without a proper process in court. That is of course also the main reason for the academics and scholars to hit out against the system.
This is going to be an interesting pull-and-push within the Chinese administration where the outcome is, as mostly, rather undecided.
More at Danwei where you can find a more comprehensive overview.