Pubdate: Fri, 06 Jul 2001
Source: The Herald-Sun (NC)
Copyright: 2001 The Herald-Sun
Contact:  http://www.herald-sun.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1428
Author: Associated Press

AMNESTY: CHINA EXECUTED OVER 1,700

BEIJING -- China executed more people in the last three months than 
the rest of the world did in the past three years -- 1,781 people put 
to death in a government campaign against crime, Amnesty 
International said Friday. The London-based rights group said China 
has put people to death not just for violent crimes, but also for 
bribery, embezzlement, fraud, pimping, stealing gasoline, selling 
harmful foods and drug offenses.

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

Amnesty said its figures of at least 1,781 executions and 2,960 death 
sentences since Strike Hard was launched in April were tallied from 
publicly available reports.

In contrast, Amnesty counted 1,751 executions in the rest of the 
world over the past three years. But only a fraction of death 
sentences and executions in China are publicly reported and the 
actual number of people put to death is far higher, the group said.

Amnesty, which opposes use of the death penalty, released its report 
one week before the International Olympic Committee votes on whether 
Beijing will host the 2008 Summer Olympics, or one of four other 
cities, including Paris and Toronto.

Critics say Chinese human rights abuses make Beijing unfit to host 
the games. Beijing officials say an Olympics would promote human 
rights in China. But they also argue that political considerations 
should not be used to judge Beijing's Olympic bid.

Amnesty expressed fears that in their rush to produce results for the 
anti-crime drive, called "Strike Hard," authorities risk executing 
innocent people. Police and prosecutors have been urged to cut 
corners to secure quick arrests and trials, it said.

In southern Hunan province, police reported solving 3,000 cases in 
two days in April, Amnesty said. In southwestern Sichuan province, 
police said they apprehended 19,446 people in six days, it said.

"The potential for miscarriages of justice, arbitrary sentencing and 
the execution of innocent people is immense," the group said.

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

Orginally targeted at organized and violent crime, Chinese 
authorities have greatly expanded the scope of the Strike Hard 
campaign, Amnesty said.

In Xinjiang, a restive western region of China where militant Muslims 
are fighting Chinese rule, authorities have executed people accused 
of separatism, the group said.

Authorities in the prosperous southern province of Guangdong, next to 
Hong Kong, and other regions have executed people for fraud, forging 
currency and "disrupting the stock market" in an effort to curb 
economic crimes before China joins the World Trade Organization, 
Amnesty said.

China expects to join the rule-making body for world trade by early 
next year at the latest.
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MAP posted-by: Kirk