Philippines urges China not to execute 3 Filipinos
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine president said Wednesday that he will ask his Chinese counterpart to commute the death sentences of three Filipinos scheduled to be executed next week in China for drug trafficking. China has defended the sentences.
Benigno Aquino III said Wednesday that officials were trying to set up a phone call to Chinese President Hu Jintao so he could personally make the appeal on behalf of the two women and one man, whose death sentences were affirmed last week by the Supreme People's Court in Beijing.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said the three were arrested separately in 2008 carrying packages containing about 33 pounds (15 kilograms) of heroin into China. They were convicted and sentenced in 2009.
Philippine efforts to win a commutation of the sentences follow moves by its government to appease Beijing after eight Hong Kong tourists were killed in a hijacked bus during a botched police rescue in Manila in August.
Aquino did not send a representative to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in December honoring a jailed Chinese dissident to spare Filipinos on death row in China. Two weeks ago, Manila deported to Beijing 14 Taiwanese facing fraud charges in China despite protests from Taipei.
"We think we have very good relations with them," he said. "Unfortunately we have not yet been successful, but we will not stop."
In a statement, the Chinese embassy in Manila said the three Filipinos stood trial and a went through an appeals process in 2009 before the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and the death penalty on them on Feb. 11.
"No one is privileged to transcend the law," the statement said.
The three Filipinos were arrested separately in 2008 carrrying packages containing about 33 pounds (about 15 kilograms) of heroin into China in exchange for cash. The three claimed they were unaware the packages held drugs, Conejos said.
Conejos said that since 2006, more than 200 Filipinos have faced drug cases in China. Of the total 72 have received the death penalty with possible commutation, 38 meted life imprisonment, 78 sentenced to 15 years in prison and 35 currently on trial. Only six cases have reached the supreme court _ two sentences overturned, three affirmed and one still being reviewed.
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine president said Wednesday that he will ask his Chinese counterpart to commute the death sentences of three Filipinos scheduled to be executed next week in China for drug trafficking. China has defended the sentences.
Benigno Aquino III said Wednesday that officials were trying to set up a phone call to Chinese President Hu Jintao so he could personally make the appeal on behalf of the two women and one man, whose death sentences were affirmed last week by the Supreme People's Court in Beijing.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said the three were arrested separately in 2008 carrying packages containing about 33 pounds (15 kilograms) of heroin into China. They were convicted and sentenced in 2009.
Philippine efforts to win a commutation of the sentences follow moves by its government to appease Beijing after eight Hong Kong tourists were killed in a hijacked bus during a botched police rescue in Manila in August.
Aquino did not send a representative to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in December honoring a jailed Chinese dissident to spare Filipinos on death row in China. Two weeks ago, Manila deported to Beijing 14 Taiwanese facing fraud charges in China despite protests from Taipei.
"We think we have very good relations with them," he said. "Unfortunately we have not yet been successful, but we will not stop."
In a statement, the Chinese embassy in Manila said the three Filipinos stood trial and a went through an appeals process in 2009 before the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and the death penalty on them on Feb. 11.
"No one is privileged to transcend the law," the statement said.
The three Filipinos were arrested separately in 2008 carrrying packages containing about 33 pounds (about 15 kilograms) of heroin into China in exchange for cash. The three claimed they were unaware the packages held drugs, Conejos said.
Conejos said that since 2006, more than 200 Filipinos have faced drug cases in China. Of the total 72 have received the death penalty with possible commutation, 38 meted life imprisonment, 78 sentenced to 15 years in prison and 35 currently on trial. Only six cases have reached the supreme court _ two sentences overturned, three affirmed and one still being reviewed.
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