Amnesty International 2003 report: China:
amnestyusa.org
The Amnesty International Report 2003 documents human rights abuses in 151 countries and territories during 2002.
China, Iran and the United States - a so-called "axis of executioners" - accounted for 81 percent of all known executions in 2002, with recorded executions in each country numbering 1,060, 113 and 71, respectively. Amnesty International research shows that over the last decade, an average of three countries annually have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.... By the end of the year, 112 countries - more than half the world - had abolished the death penalty in law or practice.
Tens of thousands of people continued to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association or belief. Some were sentenced to prison terms; many others were administratively detained without charge or trial. The "strike hard" campaign against crime launched in April 2001 was renewed for a further year. According to interim figures available, the crack-down led to at least 1,921 death sentences, many imposed after unfair trials, and 1,060 executions. Torture and ill-treatment remained widespread and appeared to increase as a result of the campaign. The anti-crime crack-down also extended to people accused of being "ethnic separatists", "terrorists" and "religious extremists" in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. Further regulations were introduced to control access to the Internet.
Appeals to nationalism, state security and social stability were used to justify the crack-down on ethnic and religious minorities in outlying regions as well as unofficial religious and spiritual groups across China.
Some 310,000 people were administratively detained without charge or trial in "re-education through labour" camps in early 2001, the last official figure available. |
