Pubdate: Wed, 27 Jun 2001
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2001 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: National Post news services

DOZENS SHOT TO MARK UN'S ANTI-DRUG DAY OLYMPIC BID 'CLEAN-UP'

BEIJING - While other countries marked the United Nations' International 
Anti-Drugs Day yesterday by burning hauls of contraband or issuing stern 
warnings to addicts, China continued its record-setting pace of executions, 
putting to death 62 people.

Some of the executions took place before thousands of onlookers in public 
stadiums, accompanied by pyrotechnics as tons of seized drugs were sent up 
in flames.

A Beijing-based diplomat who has compiled statistics on executions from 
official press reports estimates more than 1,100 people have been put to 
death so far in the campaign.

Yesterday's tally included 20 alleged drug traffickers sentenced to death 
during a rally in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan.

Using remote-control detonators, government officials ignited two tonnes of 
confiscated heroin placed in large metal pans and doused with gasoline. 
State television carried the spectacle live on its noon news broadcast.

The executions were carried out immediately afterward at a separate location.

"I think the trial is impressive," said Ren Hang, a 17-year-old student who 
took part in an organized class trip to a public trial in Shanghai. "The 
most effective way to crack down on drugs is massive education campaigns, 
like public trials, so people know to stay away from drugs."

The latest mass executions come amid the Strike Hard campaign, a 
countrywide anti-crime crackdown. Some observers suggest it is part of a 
general clean-up as Beijing goes all out in its bid to win the 2008 Olympics.

In addition:

- - Eight people were executed on the southern island of Hainan soon after 
they were condemned to death for drug trafficking.

- - Three men were sentenced to death in a sports stadium just outside 
Shanghai, in front of a 500-member audience. They were immediately led to 
an execution ground.

- - Two drug traffickers in Shenyang, northeast China, met a similar fate 
after their sentences had been announced.

After local media carried reports of the executions, the UN said a treaty 
Beijing ratified to suppress drug trafficking does not provide for the 
death penalty.

Beijing defends the executions. By staging the trials at mass rallies, the 
authorities hope to maximize the educational value of such events.

At a recent execution in Nanning, near the border with Vietnam, the 
audience included young policemen, doctors, medical students and 610 
12-year-old schoolchildren with red Young Pioneer scarves neatly tied round 
their necks.

While many young people at the event supported capital punishment, a 
middle-aged storekeeper who watched the trucks carrying the condemned to 
the execution ground was not so sure.

"I was sent to one of these events when I was a teenager," a woman 
identified only as Mrs. Lei told The Daily Telegraph. "It's a scary thing 
to see -- those men are going to die in a short time."

China has detained 15,000 suspected drug dealers and seized 1.9 tonnes of 
heroin, one tonne of opium, and 1.8 tonnes of "ice," in the first five 
months of the year, state media reported.

The number of registered drug addicts in China has risen from 681,000 in 
1999 to 860,000 in 2000.

China executes more people than the rest of the world combined, but does 
not publish detailed statistics about its executions, as the data are 
considered a state secret.

In Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok, Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai Prime 
Minister, presided over the country's biggest drug-burning ceremony to date 
yesterday, in which 4.3 tonnes of narcotics were torched as part of its war 
on drugs.

Thailand has also started staging weekly public executions of those 
convicted of drug offences.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens