China executes Japanese drug smugglers

China executed three Japanese men for drug-smuggling on Friday, just days after killing another Japanese citizen for the same offence. The men were executed in the north-eastern province of Liaoning the day after a South African woman was sentenced to death in Guangdong province.

AFP

On Tuesday, 65-year-old Mitsunobu Akano became the first Japanese citizen to be executed in China since diplomatic ties were re-established in 1972.

After the latest executions, Japanese Justice Minister Keiko Chiba expressed concern about the impact they would have on relations between the two countries.

"I am concerned about relations between Japan and China when I think of the uncomfortable feeling or reaction felt by a majority of the Japanese people," she said.

Meanwhile, 35-year-old South African Janice Bronwyn Linden was sentenced to death by a court in Guangdong province on Thursday.

In November 2008, she was caught at the airport in the southern city of Guangzhou with more than three kilos of crystal methamphetamine, the Xinhua news agency said.

Human rights group Amnesty International believes China executes thousands of people each year, more than the rest of the world combined.

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.