China's supreme court on Thursday annulled the death penalty for two people convicted of forcing into prostitution the daughter of a social campaigner.

Zhou Junhui and Qin Xing, who were found guilty of rape, organizing prostitution and forcing others into prostitution, will have their cases retried at the Hunan provincial higher court.

The case drew considerable attention as the victim's mother, Tang Hui, was put into China's now defunct reeducation through labor program for petitioning for harsher punishments for Zhou and Qin.

The annulment of the death sentences is a new twist in the ordeal suffered by Tang, who was put in a labor camp in Yongzhou of Hunan for "seriously disturbing social order and exerting a negative impact on society" after protesting in front of local government buildings in August 2012. She was later sentenced to 18 months in the camp, but was released eight days later amid a public outcry urging her release.

In July, a court in Hunan ruled in her favor when she sued the local authority for infringing her freedom and causing her psychological damage.

Her case helped bring about the abolition of the reeducation through labor program late last year.

A collegiate bench of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) made the decision to annul the death penalty after checking all the materials of the case and questioning Zhou, Qin, and other defendants in the case, as well as listening to opinions of defense lawyers, the victim and her relatives.

The bench also conducted investigations in Hunan and reviewed the factual evidence, trial procedure, and the law that was applied in the first and second instance of the case.

Zhou and Qin were sentenced to death on June 5, 2012 by the Hunan Provincial People's Higher Court for forcing people into prostitution.

The collegiate bench found that in collaboration with others, the two defendants were guilty of forcing Tang's daughter, who is surnamed Zhang and was only 10 years old in 2006, into prostitution with violence and threats of violence.

Zhou was also found guilty of having a sexual relationship with Zhang, even though he was fully aware that she was under 14, the legal age of consent in China. Qin was found guilty of organizing prostitution by recruiting and accommodating a number of women for prostitution.

Zhang was forced into prostitution multiple times. On those occasions, she was raped by several men in turn, leaving her with genital herpes and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Therefore, Zhou and Qin's crimes were serious both in terms of circumstances and consequences, the supreme court said, adding that in the joint crimes of forcing others into prostitution, Zhou and Qin acted as principal criminals, and the facts of their crimes identified in the first and second instance were clear, substantial and sufficient, and the conviction was accurate.

However, taking into consideration that their crime of forcing others into prostitution was not extremely serious in terms of violence, threat and circumstances, the immediate death penalties were inappropriate, the court decided.

In addition, the review found new evidence suggesting that Qin helped prevent an inmate with whom she was detained from committing suicide. If verified, the evidence may warrant more lenient treatment for Qin, the SPC said.

The controversial correction system, commonly known as "Laojiao," began in the 1950s. The program mainly took in minor offenders whose offence was not severe enough to take them to court.

In November last year, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to abolish the system, and in December, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the top legislature, approved the decision.

The annulment of the death sentence also comes within China's new more prudent attitude toward using death penalties. In January 2007, the SPC reserved the right to review all death penalty decisions made by lower courts after provincial higher courts drew fire amid reports of miscarriages of justice.

An official of the first criminal court of the SPC told Xinhua that the supreme court reviews death penalties in accordance with facts and laws, and take a prudent attitude in issuing capital punishment.