LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AFP) — Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng delivered a petition to the IOC on Thursday to call for the respect of human rights in China during the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing.

"The government must liberate political prisoners and guarantee freedom of expression," Wei, considered the father of the democracy movement in China, told AFP after handing over the petition at the International Olympic Committee headquarters.

"And they must correctly recompensate the people who had their homes reappropriated and were given the lowest possible price for their land in order to make a place for the Olympic Games," he added.

Wei was received for around 15 minutes by Olympic Communications Director Gisele Davies at the organisation headquarters in Lausanne.

The petition, signed by more than 11,000 Chinese, is significant because they signed their real names, Wei said, as he called on the IOC to put pressure on the Chinese government to respect human rights.

He has lived in the United States since 1997 after serving 18 years in prison in China.

Wei also hopes that the government takes down the huge portrait of former president Mao Zedong in Tiananmen Square in Beijing and replaces it with the Olympic banner during the August 2008 games.

"Mao killed 80,000 million Chinese during his reign. It is the least the IOC could push for," he said.

IOC spokesperson Emmanuelle Moreau said that it was normal for groups to use the games to promote their causes, but that the IOC was a sports, not a political organisation.

Even if there may be advances in human rights during the games, the IOC is not in the position to solve problems that have been around for many years, she added.

According to Wei, the Olympics are becoming increasingly unpopular with many Chinese who view them as a "good occasion for a number of corrupt high officials to fill their pockets."