South African woman sentenced to death in China

The International Relations and Co-operation Department is trying to have a death sentence on a South African citizen in China commuted.

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The department said on Friday that the woman, who was not named in their statement, was sentenced for drug smuggling and that the sentence was confirmed by the court in Guangzhou on Thursday.

However the department added that the judicial process is still continuing as the case has been referred to the high court in Beijing for a final decision.

South Africa’s ambassador in Beijing, Ndumiso Ntshinga, is leading government efforts to have the sentence commuted.

The department said that they continue to engage the Chinese authorities on the subject.

• Janice Bronwyn Linden (aged 35) was sentenced to death for smuggling drugs, according to news reports. She was said to have been arrested in 2008 at an airport in Southern China with over three kilograms of crystal methamphetamine in her possession.

A court statement reportedly said Linden had “attempted to evade supervision of Chinese customs to smuggle a large amount of drugs into the country, which exerted a very negative impact on society”.

The court, therefore, had decided it “should allow no leniency,” the statement said.

• At least one other South African citizen faces a possible death sentence in China, according to South African media reports.

Michael John McDermid, 55, was detained in Beijing after he was caught with 3 kilograms of heroin.

In November, South Africa’s department of foreign affairs said 691 South African citizens were detained abroad for drug-related offences, but it was not known how many were detained in China.

• China on Friday executed three convicted Japanese drug traffickers.

The three executions were carried out in the north-eastern cities of Dalian and Shenyang after approval by the Supreme People’s Court, the official Xinhua news agency quoted a court statement as saying.

The agency named the three convicted drug smugglers as Teruo Takeda, 67; Hironori Ukai, 48; and Katsuo Mori, 67, but the method of execution was not released.

Reports by Japanese media said relatives met the three men Thursday.

• Despite pleas for clemency, China also executed Japanese citizen Mitsunobu Akano on Tuesday after he was convicted of attempting to smuggle methamphetamines from China to Japan.

Takeda was convicted of buying about 5 kilograms of methamphetamines in June 2003 and “instructing another Japanese to take the drugs out of China,” Xinhua said.

• Japanese media said the cases were believed to be linked to the trafficking of high-quality methamphetamines produced in North Korea.

Drug traffickers had started smuggling methamphetamines via China to Japan after the Japan Coast Guard increased patrols and checks on fishing boats, which were previously used to smuggle drugs directly from North Korea to Japan, the reports said.

• In December, China also executed British man Akmal Shaikh for drug trafficking despite pleas for clemency from the British government and international rights groups in the first execution of a European national in China in 50 years.

China has reported several other executions of foreigners convicted of drug trafficking. Most of them were citizens of other Asian countries, such as Myanmar and Taiwan.

Sources: I-Net Bridge, Sapa-DPA, Xinhua news agency