China executed 1,781 people in three months: Amnesty

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Friday July 6, 8:01 AM
HONG KONG, July 6 (AFP) -

 

China has executed 1,781 people in the past three months, more than the rest of the world has executed in the past three years, Amnesty International said Friday.

The country has sentenced another 2,960 people to death since April, when its "Strike Hard" campaign against crime was launched, the global human rights watchdog said in a statement.

"More people were executed in China in the last three months than in the rest of the world for the last three years," it said.

These figures, based on public reports monitored by Amnesty, fell far below the actual number of death sentences and executions in China, the group added.

"Only a fraction of death sentences and executions carried out in China are publicly reported, with information selectively released by the relevant authorities.

"National statistics on the use of the death penalty remain a state secret."

The group appealed to the Chinese government to "end its spiraling use of the death penalty and to replace this callous and counterproductive policy with more effective and humane criminal punishments, in line with global trends."

It said the "Strike Hard" campaign, like others before it, was unlikely to have a lasting impact on China's growing crime problem.

"The campaign is nothing short of an execution frenzy -- a huge waste of human life," the organization said.

Executions had been recorded across the country for crimes as diverse as bribery, pimping, embezzlement, tax fraud, robbing of petrol and selling harmful foodstuffs, as well as violent crimes, it said.

Hundreds of people had also been executed for drug offences under the slogan "treasure life, reject drugs," it said, adding the spree of sentencing people to death had not been seen on this scale for many years.

Most executions in China take place after sentencing rallies in front of massive crowds in sports stadiums and public squares.

Prisoners are also paraded through the streets past thousands of people on the way to execution by firing squad in nearby fields or courtyards, it said.

Amnesty said rallies in Shaanxi province in April and May were reportedly attended by 1.8 million spectators. A rally in Yunnan province was reportedly broadcast live on state television.

It said tens of thousands of arrested suspects and thousands of people assigned to "re-education through labour" without charge or trial had also been paraded at these rallies.

The campaign initially targeted violent crime, but its scope had been extended by national and provincial authorities to sometimes include political activities.

For example, "Authorities in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region aim to 'deal a decisive blow to separatist forces, eliminating separatism and illegal religious activities'," it said.

"Many Uighur political prisoners have been executed, accused of 'separatism' and a range of alleged violent crimes.

"In Tibet, one target is those who 'guide people illegally across borders'," it said.

In Guangdong and other provinces those said to be guilty of economic crimes, including tax and financial fraud, currency forgery and "disrupting the stock market", had been executed.

"Authorities state that is in order to 'tackle the serious economic crime situation before entry to WTO (World Trade Organisation) and the challenge of globalization'," Amnesty said.

Authorities had urged police and prosecutors to achieve quick results and not to "get entangled in the detail", it said.

Courts in Shandong province reportedly held an average of 65 criminal trials every day from April 10 to May 25.

"In such circumstances, periodic official reminders that death penalty cases should be 'iron clad' are empty rhetoric," it said.

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