Australian sentenced to death in China for drug smuggling

An Australian man has been sentenced to death in China for drug-smuggling offences amid heightened tensions between Beijing and Canberra.

An Australian man, identified as Karm Gilespie, has been sentenced to death in China for drug-smuggling offences.

Gilespie, who is reported to be 56, was detained in the Chinese city of Guangzhou in 2013 for smuggling 7.5 kilograms of methamphetamine.

The verdict, announced by the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court on June 10 that he had been sentenced to death in a “first-instance judgment”, is likely to further strain Australia-China relations.

The Federal Government has confirmed the sentence, and has identified him as Karm Gilespie.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told News Corp Australia it is providing consular assistance to an Australian man detained in China.

“We are deeply saddened to hear of the verdict made in his case. Australia opposes the death penalty, in all circumstances for all people,” a spokesman said.

“We support the universal abolition of the death penalty and are committed to pursuing this goal through all the avenues available to us.

“Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment.”

Lawyers based in China questioned the timing of the sentence, suggesting it could be linked to current tensions between Australia and China and saying there was no media around Gilespie until the past few days.

“It looks extraordinarily long to me,” a lawyer, based in Shanghai said.

“It is very suspicious that he was kept like a hostage, and picked up now when the relation between China and Australia is bad.

“Given it is the first trial, he can still appeal, and the appeal process could possibly be very long, and the two governments may negotiate during the process,” the lawyer said.

Both lawyers would only speak under anonymity and said they were shocked by the fact that Gilespie was arrested in 2013 but was not sentenced till seven years later.

Another lawyer, based in Beijing said China has previously been cautious in sentencing foreign citizens but now they are becoming “tools for diplomacy.”

An Australian man has reportedly been sentenced to death in China for drug-smuggling offences. Picture: AFP

China recently calling for Australia to “do some soul-searching” and face up to racism against Chinese students.

Chinese authorities have told students to reconsider travelling to Australia, warning of a rise in racist attacks.

When it comes to our record of multiculturalism, of freedom of religion, of liberty, treating everybody equally, I’m happy to stack Australia’s record up all around the world,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday.

Beijing has also targeted Australian barley farmers and beef producers after Mr Morrison led international calls for an independent coronavirus inquiry. He has described China’s multi-pronged trade attacks as coercion.

With diplomatic relations in the doldrums, Mr Morrison was asked whether Australia’s “comprehensive strategic partnership” with China was working.

“Well, Australia has done nothing to injure it,” he told reporters. “I stress that Australia has done nothing to injure that partnership, nothing at all.”

TROUBLE IN CHINA

Gilespie is not the only foreigner to have been sentenced to death in China in recent years.

* On January 14, last year, Dalian intermediate people’s Court of Liaoning Province held a public trial in accordance with the law on the case of drug smuggling by Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian man and sentenced him to death for drug smuggling.

*On September 12, 2007, Akmal Shaikh arrived in Urumqi, Xinjiang, with four kilograms of heroin from Tajikistan. He was arrested, sentenced to death and executed by injection in 2009. On the eve of Akmal’s execution, the British government launched “crazy negotiations” with China. Then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown not only submitted a petition to the Chinese leaders, but also applied to the Chinese people’s Congress for “Leniency”. The British media also tried to play up the case of Akmal and put pressure on the Chinese government. In the end, however, Akmal was executed.

*On February 11, 2011, five drug traffickers in the Philippines were sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of China. Three were executed immediately and two were suspended for two years. At that time, President Aquino III of the Philippines even talked about the relationship between the two countries when pleading for the drug traffickers, saying whether China forgives the drug traffickers “will test the relationship that has been promised to improve”.

Japan and South Korea have the largest number of foreigners arrested for smuggling and drug trafficking in China. According to statistics of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, as of 2014, there were 44 Japanese drug-related offenders in China, 33 of whom had been sentenced. Between 2010 and 2016, six Japanese were sentenced to death in China for drug-related crimes, according to Japan’s Sankei Shimbun.

According to Yonhap news agency, as of August 2014, about one-third of the more than 300 South Korean criminals in China were drug offenders, and China has executed at least four South Korean drug traffickers since 2014.

Drug traffickers from South Africa, Russia and other countries have been sentenced to death in China.

*On December 12, 2011, a South African woman was executed by injection in China for drug trafficking. The South African government has pleaded for it in various ways, even during the Durban climate conference, calling on China to lift the death penalty, but it has not succeeded.

According to reports, the woman, Janice Linton, 35, was arrested in 2008 at Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou, China, for carrying three kilograms of methamphetamine in her suitcase and sentenced to death in July 2009.

*In November 2011, Russian woman was sentenced to death in China with a two-year reprieve for bringing two kilograms of heroin from Macao to the mainland of China.

More to come.

Originally published as Australian sentenced to death in China for drug smuggling