China's execution record criticised

More people have been executed in China in the past three months than in the rest of the world put combined over the last three years, Amnesty International has said.

"Over 1,700 alleged criminals have been executed since April. Many of them are likely to have been tortured to confess to crimes they didn't commit and few would have received a fair trial," it said in a statement.

With Beijing hosting the Olympics in 2008, China must improve its human rights situation and uphold the principles enshrined in the Olympic charter, including encouraging the "establishment of a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity", it said. "The Chinese authorities have a long way to go to demonstrate a healthy and basic respect for human rights." Religious and ethnic minorities such as Tibetans, Uighurs, Falun Gong practitioners and Christians continued to face repression, including arbitrary detention, torture and lengthy prison sentences, with more than 200 Falun Gong practitioners reported to have died in custody since July 1999, it said.

Hundreds of people were still in jail for their involvement in pro-democracy protests in 1989 with the frequent suppression of political dissidents, labour activists and farmers protesting against corruption and injustice. "Dissidents have been also detained or harassed for expressing their opposition to Beijing's Olympic bid and calling for the release of other political dissidents.

"In the preparation for China's previous Olympic bid for the 2000 games, a number of well-known political prisoners were released, only to be rearrested again after the decision [that the Games were going to Sydney] was announced," it pointed out.