The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporters
ONLY 13 Zimbabweans are in Chinese prisons for various crimes and none of them is facing capital punishment, contrary to claims that 1 000 citizens were incarcerated in the Asian country.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Joey Bimha dismissed claims that 200 locals were on deathrow in China.
This was after legislator Cde Beater Nyamupinga (Zanu-PF) told Parliament that over 1 000 Zimbabweans, mostly women, had been trafficked to China, with 200 of them on deathrow for drug trafficking.
However, Ambassador Bimha said, “According to records at our embassy in Beijing, there are 13 Zimbabwean nationals in prisons in China; five in Beijing, seven in Guangzhou and one in Nanjing. Of the 13, three are male and the rest are female. All the female prisoners and one male, were incarcerated for drug trafficking and are serving long sentences ranging from 19 years to life in prison. The other two men were imprisoned for indecent assault and theft…
“The Chinese authorities, as a matter of practice and normal diplomatic procedure, always inform the embassy each time they have our national/s in detention for whatever reason.”
Ambassador Bimha said Government had set up an inter-ministerial committee to work with the United Nations and International Organisation on Migration to fight human trafficking.
