China's parliament has dropped controversial plans to legalize the detention of suspects in secret locations, following a public outcry over an increase in forced disappearances by police.

The latest draft of China's Criminal Procedure Law introduced Thursday at the National People's Congress removed a clause that would allow police to secretly “disappear” criminal suspects deemed a threat to national security without notifying their families.

Legislative vice chairman Wang Zhaoguo defended China's current criminal procedure as “reasonable,” but said the revised law was necessary to further protect the rights of criminal suspects.

“It is necessary to discuss and revise the criminal procedure law according to the experiences and public opinions. The law must be amended and improved in accordance with the policy of deepening the judicial system reform.”

Human-rights activists praised the revision, saying it is a welcome first step in improving human rights in the authoritarian country. But they warned it will likely not do away completely with secret detentions, noting the proposed law still allows police to detain “terror suspects” in traditional facilities without notifying their families.

Forced disappearances are commonly used to silence dissidents in China, even though they are outlawed under the country's constitution. They have increased dramatically in the past year amid government fears that popular uprisings in Arab countries would spread to China.