28.05.2008 - Source: Amnesty International

Amnesty International estimated that at least 470 people were executed and 1,860 people sentenced to death during 2007; true figures were believed to be much higher ("Annual Report 2008") [ID 23539]

"Death penalty statistics continued to be regarded as a state secret, making it difficult to assess official claims that the reinstatement of Supreme Court review had reduced the number of executions. Based on public reports, Amnesty International estimated that at least 470 people were executed and 1,860 people sentenced to death during 2007, although the true figures were believed to be much higher.
In June, the Supreme People’s Court stipulated that first-instance death penalty cases must be held in open court and that courts must move towards public trials for appeals in capital cases. However, death penalty trials continued to be held behind closed doors, police often resorted to torture to obtain “confessions”, and detainees were denied prompt and regular access to lawyers. Death sentences and executions continued to be imposed for 68 offences, including many non-violent crimes such as corruption and drug-related offences."

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Trials involving capital offenses sometimes took place under circumstances involving severe lack of due process and with no meaningful appeal ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 22757]

"Trials involving capital offenses sometimes took place under circumstances involving severe lack of due process and with no meaningful appeal. Some executions took place on the day of conviction or failed appeal. Executions of Uighurs whom authorities accused of separatism, but which some observers claimed were politically motivated, were reported. On February 8, authorities executed Ismail Semed, an ethnic Uighur from the XUAR, following 2005 convictions for "attempting to split the motherland" and other counts related to possession of firearms and explosives."

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Amnesty International estimated that in 2006 at least 1,770 persons were executed, although the true figure was believed to be much higher ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 22837]

"Through the monitoring of publicly available records and reports, Amnesty International estimated that in 2006 at least 1,770 persons were executed, although the true figure was believed to be much higher. Other sources estimated that between 7,500 and 8,000 persons were executed in 2006. On January 1, the SPC reassumed jurisdiction to conduct final review of death penalty cases handed down for immediate execution (but not death sentences handed down with a two-year reprieve), thus consolidating and reclaiming the death penalty review power from provincial courts. An SPC regulation effective February 28 clarified circumstances in which the SPC should approve, revise, or remand death sentences; in most cases the SPC does not have the authority to issue a new decision or declare a defendant innocent if it discovers errors in the original judgment. The regulation also provided that the SPC would generally limit the exercise of its discretion to approve or disapprove lower court decisions. Courts handling death penalty cases in the second instance are required to conduct hearings at which witnesses in certain circumstances, such as when the prosecution and defense disagree about a witness' testimony or when the judge orders it, should testify. In August the SPP sent to local procuracies guidance to improve due process standards in death penalty cases. Monitoring and analysis of the application of the death penalty was difficult because official statistics remained a state secret. After the new procedures went into effect, three Beijing intermediate courts asserted the number of death penalty cases declined by 10 percent, although they did not provide underlying figures. Given the absence of open procedures and statistics, it was not possible to evaluate independently the implementation and effects of the new procedures."

Document(s): Open document

10.10.2007 - Source: Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Criminal law includes 68 capital offenses, over half of which are nonviolent crimes such as tax evasion, bribery, and embezzlement; practice of state-sanctioned removal and sale of the internal organs of executed prisoners ("Annual Report 2007") [ID 21293]

see report for further details

"Chinese criminal law includes 68 capital offenses, over half of which are nonviolent crimes such as tax evasion, bribery, and embezzlement.193 In recent years, China's central government leadership has adopted an ``execute fewer, execute cautiously'' policy, but the government publishes no official statistics on the number of executions and reportedly considers this figure a state secret.194 Some Chinese sources estimate that the annual number of executions in China ranges from 8,000 to 10,000.195 The Dui Hua Foundation, which researches and seeks to curb political imprisonment, estimates that China executed about 100,000 individuals during the past decade, accounting for more than 95 percent of all executions worldwide.196 According to Dui Hua, since the late 1990s there has been a significant rise in the executions of those found guilty of membership in ``splittist, terrorist organizations'' in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.197 In addition, since the 1980s, numerous credible foreign media sources have reported on the practice of state-sanctioned removal and sale of the internal organs of executed prisoners.198 One Chinese magazine disclosed in late-2005 that over 95 percent of organs transplanted in China comes from executed prisoners, and cited to Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu as the first official to publicly acknowledge that the majority of those organs originate from such prisoners."

Document(s): Open document

23.05.2007 - Source: Amnesty International

The death penalty continued to be used extensively to punish around 68 crimes, including economic and non-violent crimes ("Annual Report 2007") [ID 20015]

"The death penalty continued to be used extensively to punish around 68 crimes, including economic and non-violent crimes. Based on public reports, AI estimated that at least 1,010 people were executed and 2,790 sentenced to death during 2006, although the true figures were believed to be much higher.

The National People's Congress passed a law reinstating a final review of all death penalty cases by the Supreme People's Court from 2007. Commentators believed this would lead to a reduction in miscarriages of justice and use of the death penalty.

Executions by lethal injection rose, facilitating the extraction of organs from executed prisoners, a lucrative business. In November a deputy minister announced that the majority of transplanted organs came from executed prisoners. In July new regulations banned the buying and selling of organs and required written consent from donors for organ removal.

• Xu Shuangfu, the leader of an unofficial Protestant group called "Three Grades of Servants", was executed along with 11 others in November after being convicted of murdering 20 members of another group, "Eastern Lightning", in 2003-4. Xu Shuangfu reportedly claimed that he had confessed under torture during police interrogation and that the torture had included beatings with heavy chains and sticks, electric shocks to the toes, fingers and genitals and forced injection of hot pepper, gasoline and ginger into the nose. Both the first instance and appeal courts reportedly refused to allow his lawyers to introduce these allegations as evidence in his defence."

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Open document

06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Executions ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 18957]

"Trials involving capital offenses sometimes took place under circumstances involving severe lack of due process and with no meaningful appeal. Some executions took place on the day of conviction or failed appeal. In past years executions of Uighurs whom authorities accused of separatism, but which some observers claimed were politically motivated, were reported (see sections 1.e. and 5). The government regarded the number of death sentences it carried out as a state secret. However, in March 2004 a National People's Congress (NPC) deputy asserted that nearly 10,000 cases per year "result in immediate execution," a figure SPC and Ministry of Justice officials stated was exaggerated. Foreign experts estimated that the country executed between 5,000 and 12,000 persons each year. Media reports stated that approximately 10 percent of executions were for economic crimes, especially corruption. The SPC began implementing new appellate procedures requiring it to review all death sentences, thus consolidating and reclaiming the death penalty review power from provincial courts. The SPC and SPP issued a joint interpretation to establish specific guidelines for how local courts and procuratorates should handle death penalty appeals. The SPC added three new tribunals to conduct reviews of death sentences and hired hundreds of personnel to staff the new tribunals, but at year's end it had not begun exercising its reclaimed review authority. The SPC has not issued a judicial interpretation to settle unresolved issues in the death penalty review process and to clarify its own procedures for final review."

Document(s): Open document

06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Reform of the death penalty review process ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 19079]

"Following reports of wrongful murder convictions in 2005, the SPC made reform of the death penalty review process a top priority. During the year the SPC began implementing new appellate procedures for hearing death penalty cases, in an effort to reclaim the death penalty review power from provincial courts. The SPC added three new tribunals to handle the death penalty review function and some provincial-level high courts began conducting hearings in death penalty cases. The government also strengthened institutions, including legal aid centers, to assist citizens with legal claims.

The government regarded the number of executions a state secret. Minors and pregnant women expressly were exempt from the death sentence, although in the past the government executed a few criminals who were under age 18 at the time they committed an offense."

Document(s): Open document

11.2006 - Source: Congressional-Executive Commission on China

New amendment to require that all death sentences be approved by the SPC ("China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update (November 2006)") [ID 20008]

"The Supreme People's Court (SPC) submitted a new amendment to the Organic Law of the People's Courts to require that all death sentences be approved by the SPC, according to an October 28 China Daily report (reprinted in Xinhua). The National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) issued a decision on October 31, making the amendment effective as of January 1, 2007, according to a Xinhua report (reprinted in China Daily) on the same date.

Xinhua quoted Xiao Yang, President and Chief Justice of the SPC, as saying that the new amendment will "give the defendants in death sentence cases one more chance to have their opinions heard." Xiao explained that reclaiming the power of death penalty review from provincial-level high courts will allow the SPC to separate review and approval of a death sentence from the appeals process at the local level. Xinhua notes that the practice of allowing provincial-level high courts to handle both the appeal and the final review of a death sentence has generated increasing criticism "for causing miscarriages of justice." A September 30, 2005, Southern Daily editorial (in Chinese) pointed out that provincial-level high courts typically combine the appeals process with the review process, therefore making the review process meaningless. Moreover, the ability of local administrative bodies to control the finances and staffing of provincial-level high courts makes those courts more susceptible to outside pressures than the SPC."

Document(s): Open document

10.2006 - Source: Amnesty International

China is the country with most executions worldwide; many people forced to confess ("Im Zweifel gegen den Angeklagten") [ID 17866]

Document(s): Open document

28.09.2006 - Source: BBC News

Officials deny BBC report that organs taken from executed prisoners are sold for transplant ("China denies death-row organ sale") [ID 17868]

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21.09.2006 - Source: Amnesty International

Death penalty continues to be applicable to around 68 offences in the Chinese criminal law ("The Olympics countdown – failing to keep human rights promises [ASA 17/046/2006]") [ID 19315]

"The death penalty continues to be applicable to around 68 offences in the Chinese criminal law, including several violent crimes, such as robbery, rape and murder. It is also applicable to some non-violent crimes such as economic crimes (eg. tax fraud and embezzlement) and drug offences where the circumstances are ‘serious’. In violating the right to life and the prohibition of torture and cruel inhuman and degrading treatment, the death penalty fundamentally undermines the "preservation of human dignity" which lies at the heart of the Olympic Charter. These concerns apply to both the death penalty system as a whole as well as the conditions of detention of those held on death row in China.

Death penalty prisoners continue to be handcuffed and shackled on death row in all parts of China, including Beijing. During his visit to China in November 2005, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture met with death penalty prisoners held at the Beijing Municipality Detention Centre while they awaited appeal. He noted that they were ‘handcuffed and shackled with leg-irons weighing approximately three kilograms, 24 hours per day and in all circumstances (including during meals, visits to the toilet etc).’(3) Prison officials reportedly defended this practice as a necessary measure for their own safety, the security of others, to prevent them from fleeing and to prevent suicide. The Special Rapporteur on torture observed that ‘the continuous handcuffing and shackling of death row prisoners constitutes an imposition of additional punishment without justification, leading to severe suffering, and amounting to torture.’ He recommended that the practice be abolished.

Prisoners are executed by shooting, usually to the back of the head, and increasingly by lethal injection. Since lethal injection was introduced with reforms to the Criminal Procedure Law in 1996, dozens of mobile execution vans have been produced and mobilized for the purpose. The exact ratio of executions by shooting and by lethal injection is unclear, but some Chinese legal academics estimate that lethal injection may now account for as many as 40% of all executions.(4) The drugs used for lethal injection (sodium thiopental to induce unconsciousness, pancuronium bromide to stop breathing, and potassium chloride to stop the heart) are reportedly only produced in Beijing and provincial officials are required to travel to the capital to collect the chemicals at their own expense. [...]

No one who is sentenced to death in China receives a fair trial in line with international human rights standards. Failings include: lack of prompt access to lawyers, lack of presumption of innocence, political interference in the judiciary and failure to exclude evidence extracted through torture. A number of cases recently reported in the Chinese press reveal that innocent people had been put to death in China due to the widespread use of torture by the police to extract confessions"

Document(s): Open document

20.09.2006 - Source: Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Death penalty ("Annual Report 2006") [ID 17380]

see report for further details - Chapter V(b)

"• Chinese criminal law includes 68 capital offenses, over half of which are non-violent crimes. The Chinese government reportedly has adopted an ‘‘execute fewer, execute cautiously’’ policy. In 2006, the Chinese judiciary made reform of the death penalty review process a top priority and introduced new appellate court procedures for hearing death penalty cases. The Supreme People’s Court announced that it would consolidate and reclaim the death penalty review power from provinciallevel high courts. These reforms are designed to limit the use of death sentences, consolidate criteria used by courts to administer those sentences, and ensure constitutionally protected human rights.

• The Vice Minister of Health acknowledged that the majority of human organs used in transplants in China originate from executed prisoners. Under the World Health Organization’s guiding principles on human organ transplantation, organ donations by prisoners, even when reportedly voluntary, may nonetheless violate international standards if the organs are obtained through undue influence and pressure. New Ministry of Health regulations include medical standards for organ transplants, but do not provide guidance on what type of consent is required for taking organs from executed prisoners."

Document(s): Open document

23.05.2006 - Source: Amnesty International

Death penalty ("Annual Report 2006") [ID 17360]

"The death penalty continued to be used extensively and arbitrarily, at times as a result of political interference. People were executed for non-violent crimes such as tax fraud and embezzlement as well as drug offences and violent crimes. Based on public reports available, AI estimated that at least 1,770 people were executed and 3,900 people were sentenced to death during the year, although the true figures were believed to be much higher.

Several miscarriages of justice in death penalty cases published in the Chinese press in the first half of the year caused considerable public disquiet and increased momentum towards reform. In September, a senior Supreme Court official announced that the Court was establishing three branch courts to review death sentences. Previously this had been delegated to lower courts, reducing safeguards against unfair proceedings. Officials anticipated that the reform would lead to a 30 per cent reduction in executions. However, national statistics on death sentences and executions remained classified as a state secret, making analysis and monitoring of the death penalty problematic.

Wang Binyu, a migrant worker from Gansu, was sentenced to death in Ningxia in June for stabbing to death his foreman and three others during a violent dispute about unpaid wages. He reportedly needed the money to pay for an operation for his father. He was executed in October despite calls for leniency from academics and members of the public in the Chinese media."

Document(s): Open document

20.04.2006 - Source: Amnesty International

94 percent of executions in 2005 in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the USA; 20,000 on death row across the world ("Death Penalty: 20,000 on death row across the world [ACT 50/009/2006]") [#49630],  [ID 17047]

Document(s): Open document

20.04.2006 - Source: Guardian

Use of executed prisoners` organs for transplants; organs could be used without the consent of the prisoner or their family; transplant centres, patients and authorities could be involved in human rights violations ("UK transplant patients go to China for organs from executed prisoners") [#49663],  [ID 17050]

Document(s): Open document

20.04.2006 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Executions in 2005: 94 persons killed in Iran, 86 in Saudi Arabia and at least 1,700 in China ("China, Iran The World's Leading Executioners") [#49624],  [ID 17155]

Document(s): Open document

19.04.2006 - Source: BBC News

Authorities accused by British transplant surgeons of illegally taking organs of thousands of executed prisoners every year to sell for transplants; government denies allegiations ("China 'selling prisoners' organs'") [#49546],  [ID 17051]

Document(s): Open document

31.03.2006 - Source: BBC News

Police takes action on oil theft, particularily common in rural areas ("China death threat for oil theft") [#48106],  [ID 17156]

Document(s): Open document

29.03.2006 - Source: Guardian

Health ministry bans sale and buying of human organs in order to put pressure on the growing transplant tourism industry; rules unlikely to solve the problem, especially of prisoners donating their organs involuntarily, say human rights groups ("China bans buying and selling of human organs") [#47711],  [ID 17052]

Document(s): Open document

28.03.2006 - Source: Standard

Thousands of foreign patients receive transplantations of organs that oftenly derive from executed criminals ("Profit mit Nieren von Hingerichteten") [#47762],  [ID 17053]

Document(s): Open document

10.03.2006 - Source: Christian Solidarity Worldwide

Xu Wenku, leader of the religious group Three Grades of Servants and 15 other members, were tried from 28 February to 3 March; severe torture and sexual abuse had been used against the defendants to extract confessions; it is feared that he and 3 others will be sentenced to death ("Death Penalty Feared for Chinese Religious Leader") [#46658],  [ID 17048]

Document(s): Open document

01.03.2006 - Source: Amnesty International

Guangdong: Penalty for bag-snatching increased to minimum prison sentence of 3 years; it can include death penalty if theft committed violently by motorists ("Guangdong bag snatchers may face death penalty [ASA 17/015/2006]") [#45350],  [ID 17049]

Document(s): Open document

11.10.2005 - Source: Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Capital Punishment ("Annual Report 2005") [#37506],  [ID 4230]

see report for further details

"Chinese criminal law includes approximately 68 capital offenses, the majority of which are non-violent crimes such as bribery and embezzlement. The Chinese government has reportedly established an ‘‘execute fewer, execute cautiously’’ policy, and at least one Chinese source suggests that the number of executions has dropped in recent years. The government, however, publishes no official statistics on the number of executions, which it considers a state secret. Several Chinese sources have hinted that the annual number of executions in China is in the thousands.
The Chinese government appears willing to reform death penalty practices gradually. An ongoing domestic debate over the death penalty and its scope intensified over the past year, particularly after Chinese news media publicized accounts of wrongful conviction cases. Scholars and commentators expressed concern about wrongful executions and focused on how to prevent them. Chinese sources cite broad popular support for the death penalty and the need for a deterrent against crime as justifications for maintaining it. The government has indicated that while it will maintain capital punishment for the foreseeable future, it will work to ensure fair application of the death penalty by refining death penalty review procedures and gradually reducing application of the death penalty in favor of long-term imprisonment."

Document(s): Open document

07.10.2005 - Source: Amnesty International

4 men, all farmers and carpenters from Leping city, Jiangxi province, are at imminent risk of execution; they were allegedly tortured by police to force them to confess; they were convicted of murder, rape, robbery and extortion ("People`s Republic of China - UA 265/05") [#37685],  [ID 4231]

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Open document

05.10.2005 - Source: Amnesty International

Deputy Director of Supreme People’s Court (SPC) announced re-instatement of SPC review of death sentences ("Re-instatement of Supreme Court review of death sentences – a step towards abolition?") [#37323],  [ID 4232]

Document(s): Open document

05.08.2005 - Source: BBC News

Hong Kong journalist formally charged with spying for Taiwan; if convicted, he could face death penalty ("China charges HK reporter as spy") [#34873],  [ID 4233]

Document(s): Open document

15.04.2005 - Source: BBC News

Chinese fugitive who was arrested in Canada in 2000 in connection with multi-billion dollar smuggling operation in 1990s denied asylum in Canada; he might be executed if deported to China ("Chinese fugitive is denied asylum") [#31273],  [ID 4234]

Document(s): Open document

09.02.2005 - Source: Amnesty International

Significant rise in executions in the past few months, reported; there are concerns that a number of those executed may have been innocent ("Horrific New Year") [#28863],  [ID 4235]

"Amnesty International has monitored a significant rise in executions as China celebrates the lunar new year. According to incomplete statistics, there were 200 executions reported in the two weeks leading up to the start of the lunar new year, 9 February.
There were at least 650 executions reported in local media in the months of December and January alone. Both months are considered to be ‘normal’, without the peaks seen around certain public holidays, although the true figure is certainly much higher, as China refuses to publish full details of all the people it executes.
[...]
Many reports of recent executions in China have justified the execution of ten or more people at a time as a way to 'protect social stability, and ensure that people can have a safe, joyful and happy new year'.
[...]
Recent intense debate within China on excessive use of the death penalty has focused on a proposed reform to allow the Supreme People’s Court to review all death sentences, rather than the current system where different courts apply different standards.
However, this reform, and a suggestion that in some cases longer prison sentences should be passed instead of the death penalty, will still not address 'confessions' extorted through torture, limited access to and political interference in the judicial process."

Document(s): Open document

10.12.2004 - Source: BBC News

Yunnan: 3 people, convicted in August of abducting and selling 11 young boys, executed in Kunming ("China executes child traffickers") [#27558],  [ID 4236]

Document(s): Open document

30.11.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Woman, who was facing the death penalty on drugs charges and who was given a forced abortion in police custody so she could be "legally" executed, has instead been sentenced to life in prison at her retrial ("People`s Republic of China - Further Information on UA 256/04") [#27412],  [ID 4237]

Document(s): Open document

26.11.2004 - Source: BBC News

Henan: 8 boys killed and 4 pupils injured in attack by armed man in high school in Ruzhou; man, responsible for September attack in Shandong, in which 24 pupils were injured, was executed ("Eight boys killed at China school") [#27321],  [ID 4238]

Document(s): Open document

20.10.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Death sentence of Nepalese man confirmed; if the appeal hearing fails he is likely to be executed shortly afterwards ("People`s republic of China - Further Information on UA 216/04") [#26559],  [ID 4239]

Document(s): Open document

15.10.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Religious leader sentenced to death; either he will be executed, or his sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment, depending on a report on his behaviour in prison, submitted to provincial prosecutors by the prison authorities ("China - UA 290/04") [#26553],  [ID 4240]

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01.10.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Hunan: several hundred schoolchildren were taken to watch 6 men being sentenced to death at public sentencing rally in Changsha ("School trips to watch death sentences") [#26017],  [ID 4241]

Document(s): Open document

24.09.2004 - Source: BBC News

Leader of gang executed for his part in trafficking and selling 76 babies ("China executes baby smuggler") [#25836],  [ID 4242]

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20.09.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

2 Nepalese citizens sentenced to death by a Chinese court in a trial believed to have fallen far short of international standards; they could be executed at any time ("China - UA 269/04") [#25677],  [ID 4243]

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15.09.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR): more than 50 people are reported to have been sentenced to death for "separatist" and "terrorist" activities during the first eight months of the year 2004; they might be executed at any time ("China - UA 264/04") [#25673],  [ID 4244]

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15.09.2004 - Source: BBC News

4 people executed for bank fraud ("Four executed in China for fraud") [#25559],  [ID 4245]

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13.09.2004 - Source: Standard

Xinjiang: Since the beginning of 2004, already 50 Uighurs sentenced to death on terrorism charges ("50 Uiguren als Terroristen zum Tod verurteilt") [#25529],  [ID 4246]

Document(s): Open document

03.09.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Amnesty International and medical experts from 7 countries have sent an open letter to the heads of government in China, Pakistan, the DR Congo, the Philippines, Iran, Sudan and the USA urging them to stop using the death penalty against children ("World: International medical experts urge an end to child executions") [#25321],  [ID 4247]

Document(s): Open document

26.08.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Woman facing the death penalty on drug charges has reportedly been forced to have an abortion in police custody ("China - UA 256/04") [#25183],  [ID 4248]

Document(s): Open document

19.08.2004 - Source: BBC News

Li Haitao, official responsible for looking after cultural relics, has been sentenced to death for stealing them ("Execution for China relics theft") [#24853],  [ID 4249]

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10.08.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

An AIDS/HIV activist attacked and beaten by two young men/ the attack is believed to be an attempt to intimidate him on account of his activism ("China - Further Information on UA 221/04") [#24619],  [ID 4250]

Document(s): Open document

12.07.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region: alleged Uighur "separatist" reportedly executed ("Amnesty International condemns execution of Uighur "separatist"") [#23947],  [ID 4251]

Document(s): Open document

07.07.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

2 Nepalese men sentenced to death in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), People's Republic of China on drugs-related charges/ they could be facing execution at any time ("China - UA 216/04") [#23821],  [ID 4252]

Document(s): Open document

07.07.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Growing numbers of Uighurs that fled repression are being forcibly returned to China where they face torture and execution ("Fleeing Uighurs forced back to "anti-terror" torture and execution") [#23837],  [ID 4253]

Document(s): Open document

25.06.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Government will execute dozens and perhaps hundreds of people this week as it marks UN Anti-Drugs Day on 26 June ("Annual execution spree looms on UN anti-drugs day") [#23531],  [ID 4254]

Document(s): Open document

20.06.2004 - Source: BBC News

The leader of a gang involved in buying and selling 120 baby girls from the impoverished central province of Henan has been sentenced to death; 2 other members of the group were given life imprisonment ("Death penalty for baby smuggler") [#23443],  [ID 4255]

Document(s): Open document

17.06.2004 - Source: BBC News

South-western province of Yunnan: university student convicted of killing four classmates has been executed ("China student killer executed") [#23402],  [ID 4256]

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24.10.2003 - Source: Amnesty International

AI: Uighur Shaheer Ali executed for "terrorist activities" ("China - Further Information on UA 119/02") [#17066],  [ID 4257]

"Amnesty International is deeply concerned that Shaheer Ali, a member of the Uighur ethnic groupfrom the Xinjiang Autonomous Region (XUAR) in northwest China, has reportedly been executed after being forcibly returned to China from Nepal last year. There are concerns for the safety of Kheyum Whashim Ali, Abdu Allah Sattar andother Uighurs who have also been forcibly returned to China after seeking asylum in Nepal and elsewhere.
[...]"

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09.04.2003 - Source: Freedom House

Freedom House: Death penalty on corruption ("The world`s most repressive regimes 2003") [#12683],  [ID 4258]

"Corruption consumes 13 to 17 percent of economic output annually, according to official figures. Chinese authorities recently have responded by executing hundreds, possibly thousands, of people for corruption."

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31.03.2003 - Source: US Department of State

USDOS: Officials reportedly carried out over 4,000 execution in year 2002; actual number of executions likely far higher ("Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2002") [#11835],  [ID 4259]

"During the year, officials reportedly carried out over 4,000 executions after summary trials as part of a nationwide strike hard campaign against crime. The actual number of persons executed likely was far higher than the number of reported cases. Some foreign academics estimated that as many as 10,000 to 20,000 persons are executed each year. The Government regarded the number of death sentences it carried out as a state secret."

Document(s): Open document
text with hyperlinks

27.01.2003 - Source: Amnesty International

AI: Execution of Tibetan ("People's Republic of China: Amnesty International condemns execution of Tibetan, following unfair trial") [#10498],  [ID 4262]

"[...]
Lobsang Dhondup's co-defendant, the Tibetan religious leader, Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, had been given a death sentence with a two-year suspention of execution in connection with the same case. His appeal was also rejected by the Sichuan High People's Court yesterday.
[...]
On 2 December, the Kardze (Ganzi) Intermediate People's Court in the Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province sentenced Lobsang Dhondup to death for "inciting separatism", "causing explosions" and "illegal possession of guns and ammunition". Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche received a death sentence with a two year suspension for "causing explosions" and "inciting separatism"."

Document(s): Open document

23.07.2002 - Source: Amnesty International

AI: Number of death sentences increasing ("China: "Strike Hard" anti-crime campaign intensifies") [#7924],  [ID 4265]

"[...]
Since July 8, when the call was made, around 50 people have been sentenced to death and 25 executed. This follows scores of executions across China around International Anti-Drugs day on 26th June.
[...]
Since the start of the crackdown the number of people sentenced to death has increased dramatically. At least 2,960 people were sentenced to death and 1,781 executed in the first three months of the campaign between April and July 2001. More people were executed in China in those three months than in the rest of the world for the last three years."

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29.09.2001 - Source: Frankfurter Rundschau

21 weitere Hinrichtungen aus China gemeldet ("21 weitere Hinrichtungen aus China gemeldet") [#4404],  [ID 4269]

"In China sind erneut 21 Menschen hingerichtet worden. 20 Personen seien im östlichen Wenzhou am Donnerstag in einem Schauprozess zum Tode verurteilt und erschossen worden, meldete am Freitag der Nachrichtendienst China News Service. Ihnen sei unter anderem Mord, Vergewaltigung und Entführung zur Last gelegt worden. In Changsha sei ein Leukämie-Kranker hingerichtet worden, der seinen Arzt erstochen haben soll."

15.09.2001 - Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung

30 Hinrichtungen in China - Exekutionen künftig mit Giftspritzen ("30 Hinrichtungen in China - Exekutionen künftig mit Giftspritzen") [#4014],  [ID 4270]

Document(s): Open document

05.07.2001 - Source: Guardian

Executions of people not just for violent crimes, but also for bribery, embezzlement, fraud, pimping, stealing gasoline, selling harmful foods and drug offenses ("Amnesty: China Executed Over 1,700") [#2382],  [ID 4273]

Document(s): 00180chi.htm
Open document

23.04.2001 - Source: Frankfurter Rundschau

Massenhinrichtung in China ("Massenhinrichtung in China") [#1513],  [ID 4274]

Document(s): 0507chi.tif