Since last year all death sentences have to be reviewed by China's Supreme People's Court, but no details have yet been released on how many people have been killed by the Communist state.

The measure was seen as a first step to phasing out capital punishment but greater transparency is needed to help outsiders gauge its impact, activists say.

"In the spirit of the Olympics, we ask the Chinese government to place a moratorium on the death penalty starting today," said Speedy Rice, a law professor and advocate against the death penalty from the US, who is also a member of the French-based World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

The coaltion, which was later to deliver an anti-death penalty petition -- signed by more than 256,000 people -- to the China Liaison Office in Hong Kong, hoped to engage in a dialogue with the Chinese authorities, Rice said.

Amnesty International's East Asia team researcher Mark Allison said the death penalty was applicable to 68 crimes in China, including non-violent offences including fraud, bribery and drugs charges.

"National statistics on death penalties and executions remain a state secret," Allison said at a press conference in Hong Kong.

"Chinese people have a right to know how many people are being killed in their name."

"We are not expecting necessarily to abolish the death penalty before the Olympics," he said. "But we do think that more reforms need to be put in place before the Olympics take place."

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