China's southern province of Guangdong held several...

China's southern province of Guangdong held several public sentencing rallies which resulted in numerous executions ahead of the October 1 national day, state media reported. Guangdong held 27 public rallies in September in which 664 criminal defendants were sentenced for a variety of "serious" crimes. In the provincial capital Guangzhou, several people convicted of murder, robbery and drug trafficking were sentenced to death, said the report, which did not reveal the number of executions. The convicts were "executed right after the sentences," it said. Among those executed was a woman accused of killing one person and seriously injuring another during a robbery, the report said. Since the start of the "Strike Hard" campaign in early 2001 tens of thousands of suspected criminals have been arrested and thousands of convicted felons have been executed.