China sentenced South African woman to death

BEIJING - CHINA has sentenced to death a South African woman for drug smuggling, state media said on Friday, in the same week that four Japanese nationals were executed for the same offence.

Janice Bronwyn Linden, 35, was caught at the airport in the southern city of Guangzhou in November 2008 with more than three kilos of 'ice', or crystal methamphetamine, the Xinhua news agency said.

She was sentenced on Thursday by the high court in Guangdong province, the report said, adding the death penalty still needed to be approved by China's Supreme People's Court before being carried out.

The news comes as four Japanese nationals were put to death this week for drug smuggling in a move that sparked concern in Tokyo.

And in December, China executed Briton Akmal Shaikh, a 53-year-old father-of-three convicted of drug smuggling. Supporters said he was mentally ill and London repeatedly urged Beijing to grant clemency.

Rights group Amnesty International has said the number of people China puts to death each year is likely in the 'thousands' and more than the rest of the world combined. According to Amnesty, there are 68 crimes in China that are punishable by death, including non-violent offences such as fraud, bribery and drugs charges. Those convicted of smuggling, selling, transporting or producing more than 50 grammes of heroin or methamphetamine face the death penalty in China, according to Xinhua.

Source: AFP, April 9, 2010

Chinese court sentences South African woman to death for drug smuggling

APA – Beijing (China) The Guangdong Provincial Higher People’s Court sentenced on Thursday a South African woman to death for attempting to smuggle about 3 kg of drugs into China, a court statement said here Friday.

The death penalty needed to be approved by the Supreme People’s Court before being carried out, as required by Chinese law.

Janice Bronwyn Linden, 35, arrived at the Baiyun International Airport, in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province (south) without declaring any goods on November 30, 2008, but customs officers found in her trunk about 3kg of methamphetamine hydrochloride.

The death sentence was handed down at the Guangzhou Municipal Intermediate People’s Court on July 15 last year, and she subsequently lodged an appeal to the Guangdong Provincial Higher People’s Court, which heard the case in public on November 20, the statement added.

In upholding the original verdict, the judges 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 the society and should allow no leniency, according to the higher court statement.

The statement added that all her personal assets were confiscated, according to the sentence.

Linden’s legal rights and treatment were fully safeguarded during the trials, the statement said.

After the sentence was announced, Linden was also permitted to have a brief meeting with diplomatic officials from the South African consulate in Shanghai, it said.

Drug smuggling is a felony offence under Chinese criminal law and those who are convicted of smuggling, selling, transporting or producing more than 50 grams of methamphetamine or heroine can be sentenced to death.

Meanwhile, China on Friday executed three Japanese citizens for drug smuggling and trafficking, in addition to the execution of another Japanese citizen earlier this week for the same offence.

Source: APA, April 9, 2010

SA intervenes in execution of its citizen

The case of a South African woman sentenced to death in China has been referred to that country's high court in Beijing for a final decision, the Department of International Relations and Co-operation said on Friday.

The department said in a statement that the judicial process was ongoing, as it had already, on behalf of government, started engaging with the Chinese authorities.

It said South Africa's Ambassador in Beijing, Ndumiso Ntshinga, was leading government' efforts in this regard.

News agency DPA, quoting the official Xinhua news agency in possession of a court statement, reported that Janice Bronwyn Linden, 35, was sentenced in July last year after she was convicted of drug smuggling in China.

A higher court in China on Friday upheld Linden's death sentence following an appeal hearing in November of the original sentence.

The agency reported that Linden was arrested after customs officers found about three kilograms of methamphetamines in her luggage following her arrival at Baiyun International Airport in the southern city of Guangzhou in November 2008.

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.

The upholding of Linden's sentence comes after Chinese authorities on Tuesday, executed the first Japanese citizen since the two nations normalised diplomatic ties in 1972.

That execution of the convicted drug trafficker was followed by the execution of three more Japanese drug traffickers on Friday.

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, The Star newspaper reported in April 2009.

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 executed British man Akmal Shaikh for drug trafficking in December, 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.

Source: PretoriaNews, April 9, 2010

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