China executed at least 4,367 people last year by firing squad or lethal injection, Amnesty International hasreported, including some Tibetans shot for “counter-revolution” or “subversion.”
This figure, the highest since 1983, was confirmed by Chinese media. Amnesty said it had logged more than 6100 death sentences, exceeding the previous two years combined, yet believed the figures “to fall far short of reality.”
The impetus behind the recent escalation is the “Yan-Da” or “Strike-Hard Campaign.” Implemented in China to control crime, Strike Hard was launched in Tibet 1996 to clamp down on so-called “splittists’- to those who support Tibetan Independence and the leadership of the Dalai Lama.
At the end of 1996 TIN reported that 34 Tibetans had been executed in the “TAR” region, an execution rate eight times higher in Tibet than in China during the campaign.