China's reforms may not reduce executions, rights group says

China's death buses. Deliver express executions, organs...

Beijing - Draft legislation to reduce the scope of China's capital punishment laws may not bring down the numbers of those put to death, a human rights group said Tuesday.Beijing lawmakers were Monday considering a proposal to remove 13 non-violent offences from the list of 68 crimes punishable by death. But London-based Amnesty International expressed reservations. "We are not yet convinced that these legal revisions will have a significant impact," said Catherine Baber, deputy director for the Asia-Pacific.The proposed amendments would abolish the use of the death penalty for crimes such as fraud. But the changes may only end up "removing crimes which have seldom been punished with the death penalty in recent years," Baber said. More...