Three criminals convicted of raping minors were executed on Friday after their death sentences had been approved by China's top court.

The executions have shown the country's "zero tolerance" against those who harm children and its strong determination to protect minors, the Supreme People's Court said.

In one case, an executor surnamed Zhao was sentenced to death for multiple crimes including rape and intentional injury. He was found to have used an unregistered education base as a front and exploited his position as a teacher to abuse and illegally detain dozens of minor students through means such as beatings, verbal abuse, forced labor, and solitary confinement from April 2018 to March 2019. He also repeatedly raped eight minor female students, including three girls under the age of 14 during the period.

In two other separate cases, the criminals recruited aspiring actresses or used the internet to lure young girls, subsequently raping them.

While severely punishing such criminals, the Supreme People's Court suggested further tightening the supervision of educational and training institutions for minors, improving their entry and daily management mechanisms and strengthening the management of their employees. It also called on online service providers to strictly fulfill their network security management obligations, actively take measures to purify the online environment, eradicate the soil for the breeding and spread of harmful information, and promptly detect and block the risk of crimes of sexual assault against minors.