BEIJING (Reuters) -- China's cyber-police have partially blocked a new official Chinese human rights Web site after it was defaced by a computer hacker, who labeled it "(expletive) propaganda."

The Web site was only partially accessible to users in China on Wednesday, apparently to prevent the nation's online users from catching a glimpse of the critical messages left by the hacker called "Bronc Buster."

The site launched by the government-backed Chinese Society for Human Rights (www.humanrights-china.org) had been replaced late on Monday by a hacked version that included links to critics of China's communist regime, such as human rights group Amnesty International.

"Boycott China" the altered site read.

"I simply cannot believe the total (expletive) propaganda on this Web site," the hacker wrote. "China's people have no rights at all, never mind human rights. I really can't believe our government deals with them. They censor, murder, torture, maim, and do everything we (thought) left the earth with the middle ages."

Blocked access routine

Chinese authorities routinely block access to the Web sites of scores of foreign and Hong Kong-based human rights groups as well as those advocating Tibetan autonomy and Taiwan independence.

China's cyber-police use a "firewall" to filter out Web sites that criticize Chinese politics or document human rights abuses by the Chinese government.

Chinese authorities, alarmed by the growing number of computer crimes on the information highway, have urged its computer police to step up Internet security standards.

Bronc Buster wrote that it took less than 10 minutes to access and alter the Chinese site. "Your security is a total joke," he mocked.

Last year, an American hacker attacked the servers of a Chinese information center and altered the home page into a smiling skeleton.

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