China Said to Execute More in '98 Than All Nations

By John Pomfret

Washington Post - Foreign Service

Tuesday, February 1, 2000

BEIJING, Feb. 2 - China executed more people in 1998 than the rest of the world combined, a human rights group said today, noting that minors, separatists fighting Chinese rule and drunk drivers were among the 1,769 people killed.

Amnesty International, citing official Chinese press reports, said that 2,701 people were sentenced to death but that not all sentences were carried out. Chinese courts can mete out a suspended death sentence that is contingent on a prisoner's good behavior.

The London-based organization said the real figure for the number of those put to death was higher than 1,769 because many executions in China go unreported. Executions are supported by many Chinese who view capital punishment as the only way to remove criminals from society.

Responding to a question about executions, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said Chinese courts were "very prudent" in handing down death sentences.

China's police view executions as a major way of fighting crime, which is soaring in China these days. China's economy is stumbling and in the cities unemployed workers often resort to theft to survive. In the countryside, China's farmers have faced flat incomes for several years, and crime there also is on the rise.

Many of the executions were carried out during nationwide "Strike Hard" crackdowns on crime, which were launched in 1996, continued throughout 1997 and into 1998, Amnesty said. Even police officials are now saying that these campaigns have done little to stem the tide of crime.

In its report, Amnesty International voiced concern about China's legal system. It said verdicts were often known before the trial began and that torture, particularly in cases involving separatists, was commonplace.

Amnesty also pointed out that people were executed in China for non-violent crimes, such as tax and value-added tax fraud, embezzlement, smuggling and credit card theft.

It cited one case where a drunk driver responsible for a hit-and-run accident in the northern port city of Tianjin was sentenced to death.

Executions appear to be proceeding apace this year. In less than a week, China's state-run press has reported that 24 people have either been executed or sentenced to death. The number of executions usually rises in the run-up to China's New Year, which begins Friday.

Thirteen of those executed were pirates, who allegedly killed 23 seamen after boarding a freighter in southern China. Another six others were gang members. One of that gang killed 40 people and committed numerous rapes. Last week, five Uighur militants were sentenced to death for allegedly committing murder, robbery, and illegally dealing in weapons and ammunition in connection with a two-year-long spate of separatist activities across the vast territory of Xinjiang in northwest China.