Overview
- France’s Foreign Ministry said Chan Thao Phoumy, a 62-year-old French national, was executed in Guangzhou after a 2010 death sentence for methamphetamine crimes.
- The ministry said the execution went ahead despite its push for humanitarian clemency and said his lawyers were denied access to the final hearing.
- China later confirmed the execution and rejected the criticism, saying it applies drug laws equally to all nationalities and that possession of large amounts of meth or heroin can bring the death penalty.
- Courts said he belonged to a group that produced tonnes of meth between 1999 and 2003 in Guangdong and Henan, and after his 2005 arrest he first received life in prison before a 2010 retrial imposed death.
- France reiterated its blanket opposition to capital punishment, and rights groups say China keeps execution data secret and likely carries out thousands each year.