CHINA. AMNESTY URGES CHINA TO GO FURTHER WITH DEATH PENALTY REFORMS

Amnesty International urged China to accelerate reforms aimed at reducing use of the death penalty after a senior court official said new courts would be set up to review death sentences.
Supreme People's Court (SPC) vice-president Wan E'xiang had announced that three branch courts would be established to monitor death sentences, but said China was not about to abolish the practice. Unnamed officials were quoted by state media as saying this could cut the number of executions by 30 percent. Amnesty said China must go further.
"As a genuine step towards abolition, it must also be accompanied by other measures, including full transparency on the use of the death penalty nationwide and a reduction in the number of crimes punishable by the death penalty," it said in a statement.
The pressure group also voiced "deep concern" about reports that suggest organs were extracted from executed prisoners to be sold for transplantation.