CHINA. EXECUTIONS DROP 30% IN 2007

The Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that advocates for political prisoners and researches Chinese prisons, said about 6,000 people were executed in 2007, a 25 to 30 percent drop from the year before.
Only "extremely vile criminals" were executed in China last year, said Xiao Yang, chief justice of the Supreme People's Court, declaring success in efforts to reform the much criticized legal system.
"It's a step in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go," said John Kamm, Dui Hua's executive director.
Xiao, giving his report to the annual session of the National People's Congress, did not say how many prisoners were executed last year. Death penalty figures are treated as a state secret in China.