China heads world executions list as US falls out of top five

China executed more people than all other nations put together last year,  according to Amnesty International.

The charity says in its annual report on the death penalty that while it is known that China puts large numbers of people to death, the exact number is not clear.

But Amnesty says it has managed to calculate that the figure is more than the 1,032 people killed by the state in other countries in 2016.

In 2015, the total was 1,634 - the highest recorded since 1989.

A drop in executions in the US has meant that America has now fallen out of the top five countries for judicial killings.

Salil Shetty, secretary general of the London-based human rights watchdog, said: "China wants to be a leader on the world stage, but when it comes to the death penalty it is leading in the worst possible way - executing more people annually than any other country in the world.

"It is high time for China to lift the veil on this deadly secret and finally come clean about its death penalty system."

The human rights charity found around 930 incidents of execution in China between 2014 and 2016.

But it estimates there are many more.

The number of death sentences handed down in the US in 2016 was 32, the lowest since 1973.

The other countries in the top five are: 2nd, Iran; 3rd, Saudi Arabia; 4th, Iraq and 5th, Pakistan.

Egypt doubled the number of executions it carried out from 22 in 2015 to 44 last year.

Amnesty said: "Under (President) Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's rule Egypt has witnessed an unprecedented increase in mass death sentences after unfair trials."

The report also revealed that Vietnam has been killing hundreds of its citizens for several years without stating how many have died.