China's human rights record

Death penalty

Hanging rope at execution gallows, Baghdad, Iraq © APGraphicsBank China executes more people each year than the rest of the world put together. We know of at least a thousand executions in China in 2006, but a Chinese legal scholar estimates about 8,000 are executed each year.

Internet censorship

A sign posted at the entrance of an internet cafe, Beijing, China © Elizabeth Dalziel/AP/PA Photo Internet censorship remains pervasive in China with few signs that the authorities are prepared to relax policies of surveillance and control.

Re-education through labour

Kunming Municipal Compulsory Rehabilitation Centre © Guang Niu/Getty Images Critics of the government and members of banned religions can be sent to a labour camp for up to 4 years, without charge or trial.

Torture

Sting stick which was purchased from a Chinese supplier by school students as part of the Dispatches programme 'After School Arms Club' broadcast in April 2006. © Robin Ballantyne Torture is widespread in the criminal justice system - common methods include electric shocks, beating and sleep deprivation.

Tiananmen prisoners

A man stands alone to block a line of tanks heading towards Tiananmen Square in the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement, 5 June 1989 © AP Nearly 20 years after the military crackdown on demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, dozens of people arrested then remain in prison.

Human rights defenders

Chinese prisoner of conscience Ye Guozhu © Boxun People who make a stand are harassed and arrested, often relating to vague charges like 'state secrets'. They include lawyers, journalists, HIV activists and trade unionists.

Workers' rights

Religious persecution

Police detain a Falun Gong protester in Tiananmen Square as a crowd watches in Beijing Oct. 1, 2000. © Chien-min Chung/AP/PA Photo Unofficial religious groups - such as the Falun Gong spiritual movement - are banned as 'subversive' and individual practitioners detained.