China's Broadcast Of Drug Lord's Final Hours Sparks Controversy
In a country where executions are so commonplace as to barely rate a mention on the evening news, the death by lethal injection of a drug lord and three accomplices in China on Friday got its own two-hour special on state television.
Naw Kham of Myanmar and his gang were convicted of murder and sentenced to death in November for the killing of 13 Chinese sailors during an attack on two Chinese cargo ships on the Mekong River in 2011.
The crime sparked outrage in China, but so has the decision to televise the final hours of the condemned on national television.
Although the program, on China's CCTV, came to an end shortly before the execution took place, according to the BBC, it is believed to be the first time in China's recent history that such a broadcast has been made. In response
"Chinese internet users spoke out against the special program, in what some are saying was a throw-back to the execution rallies of China's past."