New York (PTI): Slamming the Chinese government for putting "severe restrictions "on foreign media covering Olympics, an international human rights watchdog on Friday said it was "disgraceful" that Beijing did not keep its commitment of complete press freedom.

Foreign journalists, who have come to cover the Beijing Olympics Games, face a host of "severe restrictions, ranging from harassment to a censored Internet," the Human Rights Watch said.

The restrictions break China's formal commitment, made in 2001 when bidding to host the Games, to provide "complete freedom" to foreign media, it added.

On August 4 two Japanese journalists were detained and beaten in Kashgar, while on August 6 an ESPN producer at the scene of a Students for Free Tibet protest in Beijing was harassed, the rights group alleged.

In addition to obstruction by uniformed police in Beijing, foreign media have to contend with close monitoring and harassment by large numbers of plainclothes police and Olympic volunteers working under police instruction, the Human Rights Watch said.

"Their tactics include aggressively following, videotaping, or photographing journalists in an attempt to hinder their work," it added.