Beijing - A Chinese court has handed out a suspended death sentence to a doctor who admitted she stole babies from the hospital where she worked and sold them to human traffickers.
The Weinan Intermediate People's Court in north-west China's Shaanxi province posted the verdict on Tuesday on its official microblog, saying Zhang Shuxia had told parents their newborns had congenital problems and persuaded them to give up their children.
The case exposed a baby trafficking ring that operated across several provinces centering on Zhang, once an obstetrician in Fuping, a city in Shaanxi.
A suspended death sentence usually means that after two years the sentence is commuted to a life in jail.
Child trafficking is a big problem in China, driven partly by a traditional preference for boys. - Sapa-AP