The news came a month after a Supreme People's Court official said that last year there had been a drop of 30 per cent in death penalties issued compared with 2006. In March, another Supreme People's Court official said that 15 per cent of death sentences were overturned last year.

Joshua Rosenzweig, senior research manager of the San Francisco-based human rights group the Dui Hua Foundation, said the news showed that the move to restore the Supreme People's Court's authority of final review over all death sentences on January 1 last year was proving effective.

'I must emphasise that this is something we welcome and encourage,' said Mr Rosenzweig who is based in Hong Kong. 'China, particularly legal officials and former SPC president Xiao Yang , deserve credit for seeing this through.'

The mainland has long been criticised for its extensive use of the death sentence and for keeping a tight lid on information concerning such offences. Human rights groups estimate that between 1,000 and 10,000 death sentences are carried out on the mainland annually.

Although top leaders have shown political inclination towards reducing the number of death penalties, the government has also indicated that now is not the time to abolish capital punishment, as the 'Chinese people are not ready for it'.

'Some people are strong believers in 'the man who kills shall die'. In many cases they call for immediate execution of the murderers,' Judge Gao was quoted saying.

Mr Rosenzweig said that progress aside, the disclosure yesterday still fell short of shedding light on the scale of the death-penalty application on the mainland.

In March, Mr Xiao announced that last year the number of death penalties was, for the first time, outnumbered by those of suspended sentences, where those convicted receive a life sentence if they do not commit any crime during the first two years of imprisonment.

China Academy of Social Sciences criminal law researcher Liu Renwen said academia had already reached consensus on abolishing the death penalty for non-violent crimes.

He recognised that a rough estimate showed that 90 per cent of people still opposed the abolition of capital punishment, but said the country's leaders should make it their 'political religious belief' to guide popular opinion towards an international trend of abolishing death penalties.

'Hopefully, when people know better about death penalties and their implication, they won't see the death penalty as just another regular criminal punishment,' Mr Liu said. 'And we can then talk about abolishing the punishment.'

In the meantime, Mr Liu said that allowing further media reports on miscarriage of justice cases involving the death penalty would be a good way to sway public opinion.

Further fine-tuning of the Supreme People's Court's final say on death penalties would also help strengthen the reform.