CHINA: FILIPINA DRUG MULE EXECUTED

July 3, 2013: A Filipina sentenced to death for drug trafficking in China was executed by lethal injection, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed.
The death sentence was carried out despite an appeal from Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to have her sentence commuted to life imprisonment.
The woman, a mother of two from Metro Manila, was arrested in January 2011 for carrying into China more than six kilos of heroin. She was arrested with her cousin, also busted for carrying roughly the same amount of drugs, but the latter was given a two-year reprieve from his death sentence. The death sentence was upheld by China Supreme People’s Court on 26 June.
According to Chinese authorities, the Filipina had smuggled illegal drugs at least 18 times into the country.
The family of the Filipina had flown to China and was able to talk for 30 minutes with her on 1 July. That was the only time they were able to talk with her. (Sources: globalnation.inquirer.net, 03/07/2013)