Japanese gets death penalty in China for drug smuggling

BEIJING  - A Japanese man was sentenced to death in China earlier this month for trying to smuggle 1.25 kilograms (2.75 pounds) of stimulant drugs, news reports and a Japanese official said.

An official with the Japanese embassy in Beijing contacted by AFP confirmed the report, but declined further comment.

The man in his 60s is the first Japanese handed a non-suspended death penalty in China, the Mainichi Shimbun and Kyodo News said in stories from Beijing, quoting sources close to the case.

The man, whose name is not available, was detained at an airport in Liaoning Province last July when he was about to board an international flight bound for Japan allegedly with drugs in his possession.

A Chinese district court in Shenyang handed down the sentence on February 3, news reports said.

The defendant has appealed to a higher court and the hearing will take place within two months, the sources said, adding the execution will take place relatively soon if the appeal court upholds the ruling.

Eleven other Japanese nationals have also been detained in China since last year for drug smuggling and potentially face the death sentence, Kyodo said. Most of them are retired, homeless or unemployed.

I is believed that they were working for a crime organisation to help smuggle drugs from China to Japan, Kyodo said.

Under Chinese law, production, sales and smuggling of narcotics are considered serious crimes and those convicted of crimes involving more than one kilogramme of drugs are generally sentenced to death or life in prison, Kyodo said.

Japanese embassy officials have been meeting with the detainees and have passed on pleas from their families to the Chinese authorities, it said.