Drug mule execution dismay

Published Dec 13, 2011

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The ashes of Janice Bronwyn Linden, executed in China on Monday, have been handed to a South African diplomat to be given to her family.

Linden, 35, from Wentworth in KwaZulu-Natal, was executed by lethal injection for drug smuggling.

This was despite efforts of the South African government and President Jacob Zuma to intervene.

Linden was informed of her execution only a short while before it was carried out, according to Chinese policy.

Her two sisters visited her on Sunday, but were not allowed to tell her that it was her last hours and that they would not see her again.

She was arrested three years ago at the Baiyun International Airport, in China, after 3kg of tik (crystal methamphetamine) was found in her luggage. She was convicted of drug smuggling in 2009.

“Her ashes have been given to a South African diplomat and will be handed over to her family,” International Relations department spokesman Clayson Monyela said.

On Monday, Linden’s sisters returned from China. Sister Priscilla Mthalane looked tired and said the family needed time to decide if they would speak to the media.

The family was “tired and stressed by the whole thing”.

Family friend Peter Ronald said Linden’s father Wellington was “cut up” about his daughter’s death. He was very upset and did not want to be seen by anyone, Ronald said.

On Facebook, Linden’s friend Noeleen Brauns on Monday described her as a sweet, loving girl and asked friends and family to remember and pray for her.

“Morning guys. To all of us that know Nicky. Could we please remember her in prayer as this is her last day. Let us remember that she is a child of God. We serve a Loving forgiving God. He loves her with all her faults. None of us without sin,” she said.

Leanne Jacobs said: “After all the stories settle and the media moves on, (you) will always remain HIS beautiful crazy charismatic creation… RIP NICKY…(You) will be missed and we will never forget all those precious moments we shared with (you).”

Monyela said they had worked closely with Linden’s family, and “embassy officials are there to provide the family with consular support”, he said.

“All the necessary interventions were done at every possible level, even the highest ones,” said Monyela, indicating that included Zuma himself. “Everything had to happen through diplomatic processes and there is very little that can be done around that.”

He said the execution would not impact on South Africa’s trade relationship with China.

The SA Human Rights Commission said the government’s foreign policy was focused more on trading with China, and had failed to consider human rights.

Spokesman Vincent Moaga said Linden’s sentence was “a violation of commonly accepted basic human rights, particularly the rights to life and dignity”.

He said the commission recognised China’s right to punish those found guilty of crimes, but opposed the sentence.

The IFP said the Chinese should have considered their trade relations with SA before executing Linden.

The DA said the government had not done enough to prevent the execution. “While we firmly believe that drug mules should be punished for their offences, this punishment does not fit the crime,” MP Stevens Mokgalapa said.

Mokgalapa, who is also international relations shadow deputy minister, said the DA would submit parliamentary questions. These would include what the South African government did to intervene when Linden was initially sentenced, steps taken since the sentencing to get the sentence commuted, which Chinese authorities the Department of International Relations “engaged”, and the outcomes of these engagements and the nature of “consular assistance” that was provided to Linden’s family.

An eNews correspondent in Asia said Linden’s execution could have been commuted to a life sentence if she had confessed to the smuggling.

One of Linden’s relatives told Independent Newspapers she had been framed: “We communicated with letters. She said she didn’t know how the drugs got into her luggage. Her sentence is not justified. How can you take a person’s life for 3kg of methamphetamine?” - Pretoria News

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