Amnesty International appealed for the lives of members...

Amnesty International appealed for the lives of members of a banned Protestant church who have been sentenced to death.
"The five men sentenced to death may have been tortured to force them to confess," the London-based human rights watchdog said.
They were sentenced on charges of rape or assault or both in December 2001. Amnesty's statement listed the five as Gong Shengliang, 46, Li Ying, 37, Xu Fuming, 26, Hu Yong, 25, and Gong Bangkun, 25.
The death sentences for Gong Bangkun and Li Ying were suspended for two years, meaning they were likely to be commuted to life sentences if they behaved well in prison.
But according to information provided by the New York-based Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China, another woman, Sun Minghua, 37, was sentenced to life imprisonment at the same time as the other five.
The committee also said Li was the niece of church founder Gong Shengliang. The six were labelled by authorities as the backbone of the South China Church - a banned "heretical organisation".
Amnesty's statement included letters from three women who claimed they were tortured during interrogation to "make them confess to having had sexual relations with Gong Shengliang".
In sentencing Gong Shengliang, the Intermediate People's Court in Jingmen, Hubei, said he had sabotaged the laws of the country and was guilty of rape and assault.
According to the New York-based committee, 63 members of the South China Church were arrested recently. Some had been convicted and sentenced to jail terms ranging from one to five years.
A Christian source said the crackdown against unregistered religious groups had intensified significantly since 2000. A police document issued in 2001 condemned the South China Church, claiming Gong preached to end the Communist Party's rule.