[08.4.16 英国BBC] BBC:中国死刑“金牌”

拓跋熙月

【英文原文】

China 'gold medal' for executions

The Chinese authorities put to death at least 470 people last year, but probably killed many more, human rights group Amnesty International has said.

Amnesty said the hidden extent of executions in China, where figures are secret, might mean the Olympic host was behind the bulk of them worldwide.

But China's foreign ministry defended the death penalty, saying China limited it to a small number of criminals.
At least 1,252 people are known to have been executed in 24 countries in 2007.

Just five countries - China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the US - were responsible for 88% of known executions in the world, Amnesty said.

About 3,347 people were sentenced to death in 51 nations last year and up to 27,500 people are now estimated to be on death row.



More than 60 crimes can carry the death penalty in China

Swift justice

In its annual report on the death penalty, Amnesty International said China had executed more than any country last year.

While there were 470 confirmed executions, the real figure was likely to run into thousands, Amnesty said.
"As the world's biggest executioner, China gets the 'gold medal' for global executions," said the organisation's UK director, Kate Allen.

More than 60 crimes can carry the death penalty in China, including tax fraud, stealing VAT receipts, damaging electric power facilities, selling counterfeit medicine, embezzlement, accepting bribes and drug offences, Amnesty said.
Those sentenced to death are usually shot, but some provinces are introducing lethal injections, which the government says is more humane.

The BBC's Quentin Sommerville, in Beijing, says justice is usually swift - most of those sentenced to death are executed only weeks after they are found guilty.


In a statement responding to the Amnesty report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said: "The conditions are not right in China to abolish the death penalty, and would not be supported by the majority of the people."

"We severely control and cautiously use it, to ensure that it is only used in a small minority of the most serious cases."
The Chinese government has recently attempted to reform the system.

Last year, it decreed that all cases involving the death penalty had to be referred to the Supreme Court. According to state media, this led to a 10% fall in executions in the first five months of 2007.

Amnesty urged the International Olympic Committee and athletes to press for greater openness about executions during the Olympic Games in Beijing this August.

"The secretive use of the death penalty must stop: the veil of secrecy surrounding the death penalty must be lifted," it added.

"Many governments claim that executions take place with public support. People therefore have a right to know what is being done in their name."

UN resolution

Iran was second to China with 317 known executions during 2007, the report said, followed by Saudi Arabia on 143, Pakistan on 135 and the US on 42.

Amnesty said the totals had risen alarmingly in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, but that worldwide they showed a drop - down to 1,252 from 1,591 the previous year.

The executions in Iran included the stoning to death of a man for adultery, and the execution of three people who were teenagers aged between 13 and 16 at the time of their arrests, it added.

In Saudi Arabia, those killed included a child offender aged 15 or 16 at the time of his detention, and an Egyptian man who was beheaded for "sorcery" and adultery - one of at least 76 foreigners executed by the Gulf kingdom.

Despite the statistics, Amnesty welcomed the wider trend toward the global abolition of the death penalty, noting that in December 2007 the UN General Assembly had voted by a large majority in favour of a resolution calling for an end to capital punishment.

"The taking of life by the state is one of the most drastic acts a government can undertake. We are urging all governments to follow the commitments made at the UN and abolish the death penalty once and for all," it added.



Iran was second to China, with 317 known executions in 2007


原帖链接：http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/default.stm


感谢AYUMI给整编
[ 本帖最后由 拓跋熙月 于 2008-4-18 05:07 编辑 ]

立倒

据人权组织大赦国际称，中国当局去年至少处决470人，实际死刑人数可能更多。

大赦国际指出，中国死刑处决人数为国家机密，不对外公布，由此看来奥运会主办国可能为世界上处决犯人最多的国家。

然而中国外交部反驳称，死刑仅限用于少数罪犯。           

根据有据可查的数字，24个国家中至少1252人遭到了死刑处决。

仅中国、伊朗、沙特阿拉伯、巴基斯坦和美国这五个国家，就占处决人数的88%，大赦国际说。

去年在51个国家中大约有3347人被判死刑，目前据估计不少于27500人即将被处死。

快速审判

大赦国际年度报告中称，中国在去年处决的人数比任何国家都要多。470仅仅是根据公开渠道确认的数目，真实的数字有可能达几千人。大赦国际英国主任艾伦（Kate Allen）女士说：“作为全球最大的死刑执行国，中国拿到了这方面的‘金牌’”。

在中国有超过60多种罪名可适用于死刑，其中包括逃税、盗开增值税发票、损毁电力设施、卖假药、贪污、受贿和贩毒等。死刑一般是执行枪决，但有些省份开始引入注射死刑，政府称注射死刑更加具有人性化。

BBC驻北京记者昆汀（Quentin Sommerville）说, 在中国审判非常迅速，被定罪并判死刑的犯人，其中的大部分通常一般在几个星期内就会被执行死刑。

中国外交部发言人姜瑜对此表明，“对于中国而言，废除死刑的条件不成熟，不会得到广大群众的支持。但是对于死刑执行的政策呢，我们是严格地控制和慎重使用死刑，以确保死刑只使用于极其严重案件中的少数犯罪份子。”中国政府目前正在改革这项制度。

去年政府颁布条令，死刑案件必须上交到最高人民法院进行复核。据官方媒体的报道，在2007年头5个月，此项举措促使死刑判决下降了10%。

大赦国际呼吁国际奥组委和运动员在今天8月的奥运会期间对中国施加压力，以求进一步公开死刑判决的人数和增加有关死刑执行的透明度。秘密处决必须停止，笼罩在秘密处决上的面纱必须揭开，大赦国际进一步补充道。

很多政府称死刑得到人民群众的支持，但是民众也因此有权知道，政府打着人民的旗号到底干了些什么事。


联合国方案

报告指出，在2007年伊朗紧随中国处决317人，位居第二。沙特阿拉伯处决143人，巴基斯坦处决135人。美国处决42人，名列第五。

大赦国际说，在巴基斯坦、沙特阿拉伯、伊朗被处以死刑的数目攀升，令人忧心。但是在世界范围内，这个数字总体还是在减少的。在2006年数目从1591下降到1252。

在伊朗，男子通奸也会判被乱石打死；而三个在被捕时年龄在13到16岁的少年也被处死。

                                          

在2007年伊朗紧随中国处决317人，位居第二

在沙特，被处决的人包括一个在被羁押时只有十五或十六岁的虐童犯；同时一个埃及人因为装神弄鬼和通奸被砍头，被这个海湾王国处决的外国人至少达75人，他是其中之一。

尽管数据不尽人意，大赦国际还是很高兴废除死刑在国际上越来越广泛得到支持，尤其是在2007年12月的联合国大会上，以明显多数投票通过决议草案，呼吁停止使用极刑。

“剥夺一个人的生命是一个国家最残忍的行为，我们呼吁所有的政府遵守联合国协议，为最终彻底废除死刑而努力。”


【中文翻译】立倒

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[ 本帖最后由 ayumi 于 2008-4-18 00:31 编辑 ]