Oct. 19
CHINA----execution, female
China Executes Beijing Heroin 'Wholesaler'
A woman convicted in the largest case of drug trafficking in China's
capital in more than 50 years was executed on Tuesday, Chinanews.com news
Web site reported.
Ma Xiuqin, 32, was arrested on July 1, 2003, with more than 29 pounds of
heroin in her possession and sentenced to death by a Beijing court in
January, it said.
"She told the police that in less than 1 year, nearly 30 kg of heroin had
gone through her hands, enough to earn her a reputation as a 'wholesaler'
in the Beijing drug market," it said.
International human rights groups strongly protested the June executions
of dozens of drug dealers ahead of the International Day Against Drug
Abuse.
Convicted drug dealers usually receive either a bullet in the back of the
head or lethal injection.
Amnesty International said in June that China executed at least 50 people
on drug-related charges in 2003, but drug use, related crimes and
trafficking continued to rise.
China, which borders the Southeast Asian "Golden Triangle" and
Afghanistan, 2 of the world's biggest opium producers, faces a serious and
growing drug problem. It has more than 1 million registered addicts, and
many more who are not registered.
(source: Reuters)
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Fukuoka family murderers face death penalty in China
2 Chinese men indicted for murdering a family of 4 in Japan face death
sentences.
Prosecutors strongly suggested in a hearing held Tuesday at the Liaoyang
court that the defendants -- Wang Liang, 22, a former Japanese-language
school student, and Yang Ning, 24, a former university student, be
sentenced to death.
During the hearing, Wang burst into tears and said, "I'm sorry," in
Japanese 3 times. Yang expressed regret over his crime, but stopped short
of offering an apology.
In an unprecedented move, the court allowed a 5-member Japanese press
corps to attend Tuesday's hearing of the case, and hired a Japanese
interpreter for relatives of the victims of the crime.
The court has unofficially told the Japanese government that it will
inform prosecutors, the defendants and the bereaved families of the
victims within 15 days of its ruling on the two. It is expected that Wang
and Yang will be sentenced to death.
In the indictment, a prosecutor bitterly criticized the two for their
crimes. "The motives behind the defendants' crime are atrocious, and the
methods they employed were cruel. The consequences were extremely grave."
During the hearing, Yang admitted to having masterminded the attack and
been involved in the slaying of 3 of the 4. "I proposed the robbery. I was
involved in the murder of 3 of the 4."
Wang, Yang and Wei Wei sneaked into the home of Shinjiro Matsumoto in
Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, in the predawn hours of June 20, last year, murdered
Matsumoto and three family members and stole about 37,000 yen in cash,
bankbooks and credit cards, Japanese and Chinese law enforcers said. They
then attached weights to the victims' bodies and dumped them into Hakata
Bay.
The indictment shows that Wang initially hesitated to kill Matsumoto's
daughter, 8-year-old Hina, but Yang decided to kill her to prevent her
from telling police about them.
"Let's not kill her because she is too young," the indictment quotes Wang
as telling Yang.
"If we don't kill her we'll get caught and be killed ourselves," Yang was
quoted as saying to Wang.
Wang and Yang fled to China following the crime while Wei remained in
Japan. Wei was arrested in Japan and is now being tried at the Fukuoka
District Court.
(source: Mainichi Shimbun)
SOUTH AFRICA:
Family wants death penalty for Van der Merwe murderers
2 family members of the murdered Van der Merwe family from Benoni have
made an emotional plea in the Secunda Circuit Court in Mpumalanga for the
re-instatement of the death penalty. Sonia van der Merwe, the only
surviving member of the murdered family, and Jackie Clarkson, the mother
of the murdered Melissa van der Merwe, have testified in the hearings for
mitigation of sentence.
In a strong worded statement Clarkson told the court that she will never
be able to forgive the 4 men for what they have done to her daughter. She
pleaded with the government to bring back the death penalty.
Van der Merwe asked the court to at least sentence the man to life in
prison. She showed the judge photographs of her family and told him how
she desperately tried to remember them. She said the murderers are worse
than animals.
Final evidence in mitigation is still to be heard before the men are
sentenced.
(source: SABC News)
