Death sentences, tough prison terms and other forms...

Death sentences, tough prison terms and other forms of state punishment are likely to rise as Shanghai prepares for the October 1 National Day holiday, according to a senior city court official.
"Each year, relatively more criminals are sentenced or executed before major holidays," the director of the administration office of the Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court said. Shanghai is in the midst of an intensified Strike Hard anti-crime campaign.
Human rights groups say China has executed more people in the past eight months than the rest of the world combined over the past three years. It is possible for a defendant in China to be arrested, charged, tried, have his appeal rejected and be executed in just weeks.
The range of crimes punishable by death is extensive: everything from embezzlement and other white-collar crimes to murder can end with a bullet to the back of the head, the usual method of execution.
Liu Nanlai, a senior researcher at the law institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said some legislators had started calling for a reduction in the number of crimes punishable by death. "But I don't foresee any reduction in the number of executions China carries out for the foreseeable future," he said.
The Shanghai court official said executions and other, less harsh, forms of punishment were being increased in preparation not only for the October 1 holiday, but also ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum next month.
That meeting will bring to Shanghai heads of state from throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including United States President George W. Bush and President Jiang Zemin.State councillor Luo Gan, head of the Communist Party's Politics and Law Commission, called for an intensified six-month Strike Hard campaign on official and corporate corruption and vowed to yield substantial results within two years.
Meanwhile, a total of 229 Chinese police officers had been killed carrying out the nationwide Strike Hard campaign, relaunched early in 2001, state media reports said.
The casualty list, which also included more than 4,000 injured, covered the period from January to August, Xinhua said, citing police statistics.