China's supreme court urged courts nationwide to equip...

China's supreme court urged courts nationwide to equip themselves with special execution vans that can put to death convicted criminals immediately after sentencing, a judicial official said. The Beijing News daily said the high court of north-eastern China's Liaoning province had recently bought such a vehicle for 400,000 yuan (48,300 dollars), a purchase confirmed by a court official.
"Following recommendations by the supreme court, courts in many provinces have been buying these vehicles," an official in the court's department of police, which is in charge of executions, told AFP.
"Many large cities have permanent execution grounds, but in smaller cities it is difficult to carry out death sentences, so this is why we have these mobile execution units."
The vans are produced in eastern China's Nanjing city by Iveco, Italy-based Fiat's trucking arm, the court official said, and then specially equipped for executions.
Hands Off Cain issued a statement asking FIAT whether it is aware that the trucks it produces in China are being turned into execution chambers. HOC called on FIAT to use the potent means at its disposal to promote, along with its vehicles, a campaign to stop executions.