China executes more people each year than the rest of the world combined, with its state-sanctioned system cloaked in official secrecy, a report released on Tuesday by human rights monitor, Amnesty International, has said.
“Several thousands of people were executed in 2016 by China alone, while at least 1,032 were executed in 23 other countries globally,’’ Amnesty said.
The estimates, however, contradicted official state figures, which put the number of executions at 85 between 2014 and 2016.
Amnesty’s investigation found news reports of no fewer than 931 individuals executed in 2014-16, while the official state database showed only 85 entries.
“There is absolutely no way to know whether the number of executions is going up or down in China.
“Even in spite of claims by the Chinese government to be killing fewer and killing carefully,’’ Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty’s regional director for East Asia, said.
Bequelin called on the government to publish full figures.
Chinese legal scholars have also put estimates of executions at several thousands per year.
“Globally, countries are moving away from the death penalty, with 141 countries abolishing it in law or practice.
“Apart from those carried out by China, just four countries – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan – are responsible for 87 per cent of all recorded executions.
“The death penalty is itself living on borrowed time,’’ he said.
Report says the ranking does not include Vietnam, because it did not provide yearly breakdowns, providing data from August 2013 to June 2016.
Amnesty has been monitoring official records of executions for 40 years.