China execution highest in world: Amnesty

The London-based group said in its data on the use of the death penalty in the world that the real figure in China was likely to be far higher than its estimate of 3,400 executions there.

Overall, Amnesty's estimates marked a sharp rise over the 1,143 executions it had recorded in the world the previous year, largely due to its revised estimate for China.

Amnesty had accounted for 726 people executed in China in 2003 based on "public reports".

In March 2004 a delegate at the National People's Congress said that "nearly 10,000" people are executed each year in China, according to the human rights group.