China opts for lethal injection

China has the highest number of executions in the world

China is to adopt execution by lethal injection throughout the country.

Lethal injections were legalised four years ago and the method has been used in several cities already.

However, the Chinese say they will still carry out some executions by the traditional method - by gunshot to the head or heart.

According to the state news agency Xinhua, officials involved in the lethal injection trials say they are simpler, cheaper, more humane and less traumatic than gunshots.

The agency said research on substances for lethal injections is almost complete and regulations for such executions have been submitted to a committee of the Supreme People's Court for deliberation.

Execution capital

The first execution by lethal injection took place in Kunming in 1997 following a series of experiments on animals.

It is not known how many other prisoners have been executed by this method since then.

According to the human rights organisation, Amnesty International, China executed more than 1,800 people last year, more than the rest of the world combined.

Human rights groups have consistently criticised the large number of executions carried out, often following swift trials, and for non-violent crimes such as corruption and theft.

There have also been concerns expressed that execution by lethal injection might be used to aid the harvesting of transplant organs from executed prisoners, although officials deny using organs from executed criminals without their permission.