‘Execution Parade’ on TV in China Called Off

‘Execution parade’ on TV: The televised broadcast of a Burmese drug lord who was slated for execution in China was called off at the last moment.

This frame grab taken from Chinese TV CCTV on March 1, 2013 shows convicted murderer and gang leader Naw Kham of Burma accepting an interview before he was transferred for execution in Yunnan Province. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

The Chinese regime scuppered plans to broadcast the execution of a Burmese drug lord and three of his cohorts live on television.

Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece CCTV made the announcement earlier this week and aired the two-hour execution show on Friday. However, it suddenly did not show the execution of Naw Kham, a drug lord who operated in the Golden Triangle region of Southeast Asia, along with his three henchmen. They were accused of killing 13 Chinese crewmen on a ship in the Mekong River.

The broadcaster did not give an explanation for pulling the show at the last minute, reported ABC News. But there was a China News Week poll on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging platform, asking users if they thought showing the execution live on TV was the right thing to do.

[Related: Beijing Lawyer Denounces Execution for Organs at Hospital]

The live broadcast showed police officers leading Kham, who was bound in ropes and chains, from a detention center in southern China to a bus that would lead him to his execution, reported The Guardian. His three henchmen followed in a similar manner. They were all killed, but not while on camera.

Some people described the incident as a “execution parade,” which was used during communist dictator Mao Zedong’s reign as a form of propaganda and fear-mongering.

One blogger, named @Hanyouyi, said that while Kham should be punished, CCTV’s live broadcast of the execution was too much.

“[The] CCTV’s live broadcast of the execution is a live parade on TV and the Internet, this is not showing justice, this is showing power over flesh,” the user wrote, according to ABC.

Amnesty International has said that China executes by far the most people in the world—more than the rest of the world combined—but the rights group pointed out that the numbers are not released to the public. 

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