China is the world’s leader in capital punishment, executing
“thousands” every year, according to Amnesty International’s
best guess of the officially secret statistic. A U.S.-based NGO
estimates 4,000 executions in 2011 alone, which is actually half
of their projected 8,000 in 2007. By comparison, second-ranked
Iran used the death penalty 360 times in 2011. The U.S., ranked
fifth, used it 43 times. Another practice often accompanies
China’s capital punishment: organ transplants. In 2009,
government officials publicly acknowledged that executed
prisoners provided over 65 percent of organ transplants. The
health ministry also said that 10,000 organ transplant
operations are performed annually. The numbers are unsettling.
We don’t know how many thousands of prisoners China executed in
2009, but if they provided organs for 65 percent of that year’s
10,000 surgeries, it would suggest most or perhaps close to all
of the prisoners had their organs removed after their deaths.
The Chinese government has been working