CHINA: INDIAN ON CHINESE DEATH ROW GETS REPRIEVE

an Indian man found guilty in China of possessing narcotics had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment. Askar Miyan Ayyathambi Aliyar, a resident of Tamil Nadu, and Hussain Mydeen, a native of Thanjavur, were given the death sentence on August 2, 2007, for smuggling heroin. There was suspicion that the drugs were planted in his luggage by a drug trafficking gang. He was arrested travelling from India to London. Though Askar and Hussain were arrested in separate incidents, both were sentenced on the same day by a Zhuohai court.