China’s Attitudes On Executions Are Changing As Live Broadcast Provokes Outrage

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the executions of four drug traffickers convicted of brutally murdering 13 Chinese fisherman were shown live on Chinese television right up until their actual deaths, prompting a nationwide outcry. Public executions, once a common occurrence in communist China, are now viewed negatively in a country that is very aware of its ascendant status in geopolitics.

China puts to death an estimated 4,000 people a year, more than all other nations combined but even the most vile of places with the death penalty (think North Korea, Belarus, Iran, Texas) do not broadcast executions live on television. Up until a year ago one Chinese television station even had a program that broadcast interviews with Chinese criminals on death row.

The murders that took place shocked the Chinese due to the number of victims and the brazenness of the killings. The hunt for the ring leader of the attacks, Naw Kham, 44, of Myanmar, or that nation formerly known as Burma, was seen by some according to the LA Times report as similar to the search for Osama Bin Laden. Chinese authorities apprehended Kham in Laos after an extensive intelligence gathering operation spread across three countries. At one point even the Chinese considered using drones to kill Kham and his fellow drug traffickers.

(H/T: Los Angeles Times)

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