China to extend use of 'civilized' lethal injection

A series of "Strike Hard" anti-crime campaigns have seen executions soar

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Chinese authorities are planning to increase use of lethal injection as a method for execution as a "civilized way" of enforcing the law, state media has reported.

According to the official Xinhua news agency the move comes after a series of experiments on animals and what it described as a "favorable response" to the practice from both condemned criminals and their relatives.

The agency quoted Liu Jiachen, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, as saying some intermediate courts had already begun to use lethal injections but others would need government help to build appropriate facilities before the practice could be introduced nationwide.

"We are strict in controlling [the] death penalty and the number of executions is limited," he said.

"Execution by lethal injection is a full expression of civilized way of law enforcement we have always pursued."

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Human rights groups say China is the world's most prolific executioner, putting to death more people each year than the rest of the world combined.

Until recently most executions were carried out by shooting with a single bullet to the back of the neck.

According to Amnesty International Chinese courts regularly exercise the death penalty for a large number crimes, including several non-violent offenses.

The group says the number of executions frequently peaks during periodic "Strike Hard" crime crackdowns which stress speedy justice when defendants who would otherwise be jailed are sentenced to death.

Official totals are rarely published but according to Amnesty in the three months between April and June 2001, during one such campaign, Chinese courts handed out some 2,960 death sentences with 1,781 executions taking place over the same period.

That figure, Amnesty says, means more people were executed in China during those three months than in the rest of the world over the previous three years.