Sars-related death penalty

2003-06-04 09:11

Beijing - A man in northern China was sentenced to death for murdering the village head of a Sars prevention team, state press reported on Wednesday, in the first reported Sars-related case involving capital punishment.

Zhu Maishu was sentenced to death by the Cangzhou city intermediate court for the April 26 premeditated murder of the head of a Sars prevention team in Hebei province's Fengcun village, Xinhua news agency said.

Zhu killed prevention team head Wang Shuangzhu with a butcher's knife after Wang tried to prevent a friend of Zhu's from entering the village, the report said.

The murder followed a heated arguement between the two men over restrictions prohibiting visitors from entering Fengcun village, it said.

China has implemented draconian measures in its fight against Sars, with the nationwide police network intervening to ensure the implementation of Sars inspection and quarantine measures.

Anyone with a fever or flu-like symptoms has become suspect in the fight against the mysterious disease, with medical checkpoints jointly manned by police at travel points nationwide.

Zhu's conviction comes after villages in and around affected regions, especially in Hebei which surrounds Beijing, have forcefully refused entry to all non-villagers.

In the fight against Sars, police have also arrested Sars and Sars suspected patients who have refused to stay in quarantine.

On May 18, six people in Hebei's Xiong county, not far from Fengcun village, were sentenced to up to five years in prison for inciting a riot at a Sars quarantine facility.

According to the London-based human rights organisation, Amnesty International, China makes rampant use of the death penalty and annually executes more people than the rest of the world combined.

More than 5 300 people have been infected and 334 killed by the outbreak in China, the country worst hit by the epidemic. - Sapa-AFP

- SAPA