WORLD : China OKs Drug Death Penalty
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BEIJING — Chinese officials today approved the death penalty for some drug and pornography cases, and they replaced the security chief who failed to quell last year’s pro-democracy movement.
Wang Fang, the 70-year-old public security minister in charge of the police, submitted his resignation before today’s meeting of the Standing Committee of China’s legislature, the official New China News Agency reported. He was replaced by Tao Siju, 55, vice minister of public security since 1988.
The news agency said the new drug law approved by the committee specifies sentences ranging from 15 years in prison to the death sentence for ringleaders of drug smuggling gangs and those linked to international rings.
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