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http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/a-glimpse-of-death-row-in-china/?partner=rss&emc=rssA Glimpse of Death Row in ChinaBy J. DAVID GOODMAN
A view inside the walls of a Chinese prison, where four women awaiting execution were photographed in 2003; a slide show republished last week sparked debate online.
A group of Chinese women, photographed inside death row at a Chinese prison, engage in seemingly banal tasks — painting their nails, brushing their hair, discussing clothes with uniformed guards — that take on tragic resonance in the final 12 hours before the women’s execution. The pictures, more than eight years old, remain stark and poignant, providing a rare, albeit officially approved, glimpse of death row in a country that executes more people each year than any other. The photo slide show and its accompanying captions describing the women’s activities were republished late last week on the Web site of Phoenix Television, a private broadcaster based in Hong Kong, and translated by Ministry of Tofu, a blog that is often critical of the Chinese government. Despite having been first published in the Chinese newspaper Southern Weekend nearly a decade ago, on June 25, 2003, the photos have circulated widely this week on Twitter and Sina Weibo, a popular Chinese microblogging site, sparking debate. It was unclear why the photos had been republished. The authorities appear to have originally granted access to the photographer in order to use portraits of the condemned women, each scheduled to be executed on drug charges, as a deterrent to future offenders. According to the captions, the pictures were taken days before an international day against drug abuse and trafficking.While the Chinese government has recently moved to limit the number of crimes for which execution can be applied, Chinese law still imposes the death penalty for anyone found smuggling more than 50 grams of heroin, less than two ounces, and many death row inmates have been convicted of smuggling.
A woman who “exuded childlike innocence and breeziness” in the last hours before her execution was fed by another inmate in a Chinese prison.Foreigners too face death for drug charges in China. There are currently seven Russian nationals on death row in China, including a woman convicted last week of smuggling more than four pounds of heroin, Russia’s official RIA Novosti news agency reported. China executed a Pakistani businessman on drug charges in September, the second such execution in two years, local news reports in Pakistan said, and despite requests for clemency from the president of the Philippines, a Filipino man convicted for smuggling more than three pounds of heroin is to be put to death on Dec. 8, The Associated Press reported, following similar executions of three Filipino traffickers in March.In 2009, China executed a 53-year-old British man on drug charges despite an international clemency drive; supporters had said the man, Akmal Shaikh, was mentally ill and should not face death for his crime.China does not publish statistics on the number of people it executes, but Amnesty International estimates the number to be in the thousands. The group’s most recent report found that outside of China, at least 527 people were put to death in 2010, down from more than 700 the year before.The four women whose last hours were documented in the photographs were each described as “drug dealers.” According to the captions, one of the women, identified as Ma Qingxiu, a 49-year-old from Hubei Province, had been convicted and sentenced to death for trafficking about 5 pounds of unspecified drugs on multiple occasions. The other women’s crimes were not detailed.Nearly 300,000 people have viewed the images on Phoenix Television’s Web site, which elicited more than 3,600 comments and a debate over the application of the death penalty in these cases, and more broadly.“Our government should abolish the death penalty on drug dealers, especially they should adopt a more lenient legal approach to women given that they have been held down over 5,000 years,” one commenter wrote.“Compared with crimes committed by corrupted officials, what they did is not even worth mentioning. Unjust treatment indeed,” another said.Others were less sympathetic, believing that the Chinese government should deal as harshly as possible with the drug trade, even if it means the execution of women. “Criminals should get punished regardless of their gender. No need to highlight these four are women,” wrote one.Another commenter said: “Consider how many people’s lives they have ruined, I think they ought to be shot 20 times to death!”Some Chinese readers saw the treatment of the women during their final hours, in which they can be seen eating final meals and smiling with guards, as too coddling.“Those pictures strike me more like they are enjoying a vacation than on death row,” one commenter observed.
Regular inmates, in blue, played a card game with women on death row shortly before their execution in 2003, as guards watched.
Shi Da contributed research from Beijing.
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