4 Canadians Executed in China After Drug Convictions

Canadian government officials said four citizens of the country were executed in China after they were convicted of smuggling drugs into the country, Reuters reports.  

All four of the individuals possessed dual Canadian/Chinese citizenship and were convicted on drug charges, Mélanie Joly, the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, told reporters Wednesday, March 19. She also said the Canadian government is in communication with Beijing, petitioning for clemency for other Canadian citizens facing similar charges, Reuters reports.

The identities of the individuals is being withheld from the public at the request of the families, NPR reports.

“There are four Canadians that have been executed and therefore we are strongly condemning what happened,” Joly told reporters. 

Wang Yi, China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, said China had acted “in accordance with the law,” the BBC reports. The Chinese embassy backed the minister’s statement, saying there was “solid and sufficient” evidence for the convictions.

Joly said she had been working closely with former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to prevent the executions from happening.

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Canada had “repeatedly called for clemency for these individuals at the senior-most levels and remains steadfast in its opposition to the use of the death penalty in all cases, everywhere,” according to a statement released by Charlotte MacLeod, the Global Affairs Canada spokeswoman.

This isn’t the first time a Canadian has faced the death penalty in regards to drug smuggling into China. Robert Schellenberg was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted in 2018 of drug smuggling, Reuters reports. A year later in 2019, a Dalian court sentenced Schellenberg to death, but he has not yet been executed.

“Canada strongly condemns China’s decision to uphold the death penalty sentence,” said Marc Garneau, the former Canadian foreign minister, in a statement. “We have repeatedly expressed to China our firm opposition to this cruel and inhumane punishment.”