CHINA EXECUTES THREE TO MARK ANTI-DRUG DAY: REPORT

Beijing (AFP) - China has executed three drug dealers and sentenced
at least seven others to death, state media reported on Wednesday, on
the eve of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The death penalties were among a series of harsh sentences handed
down in more than 20 separate cases by courts from Shanghai in the
east to Shenzhen in the south, the Xinhua news agency said.

Among the three executed in southeastern Fujian province was a drug
dealer from Taiwan, identified as Tseng Fu-wen, it said.

"As the number and scale of drug dealing cases have been increasing
in recent years, the court has raised its strength to crack down,"
the report quoted Zhang Zhijie, deputy chief judge at Shanghai's
Second Intermediate People's Court, as saying.

Mr Zhang was speaking after his court handed down three death
sentences, including one for an unemployed man caught with 3.5
kilograms of drugs, Xinhua said.

Two other death sentences were handed down at a court in Shenzhen
Monday, it said.

It did not specify the drugs involved in any of the cases.

China regularly steps up executions of drug traffickers ahead of the
June 26 anti-drug day to signal its determination in fighting
narcotics-related crime.

The Chinese government has been severely criticised for its frequent
use of the death penalty, especially by overseas rights groups.

The government does not publish official statistics on executions,
but Chen Zhonglin, a delegate to the National People's Congress, or
parliament, was quoted by official media in 2004 saying the figure
was 10,000 annually.

Chinese legal officials have signalled the death penalty will endure
and cite public support as a major reason.