China's highest court to approve death sentences

China’s legislature today approved a change in the death penalty law to allow only the country’s highest court to approve death sentences, state media said.

The move comes amid complaints of miscarriages of justice and criticism by human rights groups who say China extensively and arbitrarily uses capital punishment.

The change, which will take effect on January 1, 2007, “is believed to be the most important reform of capital punishment in China in more than two decades,” the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Last year, the Supreme People’s Court announced it would start reviewing death sentences, ending a 23-year-old practice of allowing final review by provincial courts.

Human rights groups say China carries out the majority of the world’s court-ordered executions, though the government doesn’t release comprehensive figures.

China imposes death sentences for crimes ranging from rape and murder to non-violent offences such as tax fraud.