Don’t miss a thing! Sign up to the Daily Star’s newsletter
Amnesty International has warned that the Chinese government has been executing thousands of its citizens in secret in a shocking new report.
The report, titled 'Death Sentences and Execution 2021', was exhaustively compiled by the charity and found that global executions increased by 20% in 2021.
It claims that Iran accounted for the biggest portion of the 2020-2021 rise, by executing at least 314 people for crimes as small as possessing certain drugs.
However, the report also suggests that China has secretly executed at least 1000 of its own citizens but 'kept figures secret'.
The report reads: "China has yet to publish any figures on the death penalty; however, available information indicates that each year thousands of people are executed and sentenced to death.
"Amnesty International renews its call on the Chinese authorities to publish information on the use of the death penalty in China."
In 2021, human rights experts estimated that "thousands" get the death penalty in China every year with a 99% conviction rate.
People can be executed for acts such as murder, drug possession and even economic crimes such as corruption with firing squads and lethal injections the preferred methods of killing.
In 2021, human rights experts estimated that "thousands" get the death penalty in China every year with a 99% conviction rate.
At the time Amnesty International’s China researcher Kai Ong claimed China held mass rallies to announce people being sentenced to death.
She said: “The Chinese government still sees the use of the death penalty as an effective deterrent to crimes.
“Each June, local governments often hold mass sentencing rallies, in which students, teachers and the public are invited to witness the court handing down the death penalty to individuals convicted of drug-related crimes.”
Mobile deaths vans have allowed the execution of prisoners without having to transport them to a jail since 2003, said Amnesty.
And firing squad executions are said to continue despite official claims they wouldn't since 2010.
Ms Ong added: “Although the Chinese government follows the policy of killing fewer, killing cautiously, it also sees the use of the death penalty as an effective deterrent to serious crimes, especially drug-related crimes.
“It is unlikely that the number of new death sentences and executions will go down significantly in the near future.”
It's been reported that convicts in the country are crammed onto death vans and taken to Death Row where they are injected.
Organs are then reportedly harvested from prisoners and used for scientific experiments.
To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
- China
- Death Row
Source: Read Full Article
