a global coalition of rights groups urged China to curb use of the death

a global coalition of rights groups urged China to curb use of the death penalty ahead of the Olympics, but noted that judicial reforms had led to a "significant" drop in the number of executions since last year. The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty handed a petition to Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong carrying the signatures of 256,000 people from 23 countries, calling on Chinese President Hu Jintao to grant a moratorium on executions. The coalition said 80 percent of the world's executions in 2006 took place in China. "A positive legacy for the Beijing Olympics can only be achieved when China's world record of executions comes to an end," the coalition said in an open letter. "We do believe the Supreme Court review has led to a significant reduction in the number of executions," said Mark Allison, China researcher for Amnesty International, which is part of the Coalition. He added though that the review had greatly increased the workload of the top court and had led to a backlog in cases.