Twenty-six convicted criminals were collectively sentenced...

Twenty-six convicted criminals were collectively sentenced to death in China's southern city of Guangzhou as part of a government effort to clear a back-log of cases awaiting verdict, state press reported.
The 26 criminals were mostly convicted of "drug trafficking and other heinous crimes", the China News Service reported.
The collective death sentence was delivered under heavy security at the Guangzhou municipal court with some 150 armed police and security guards maintaining order, the report said.
Among those sentenced to death was Liu Maoliang, who was convicted of trafficking up to 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) of illegal drugs, including heroin, it said.
Liu was first detained in January 2001 and should have been sentenced by November 2002. His 32 months in criminal detention violated existing Chinese regulations on the amount of time suspects can be held before their cases reach a final verdict, the report said without elaboration.
The length of Liu's detention was the longest among the 26 who were sentenced to death. His case was delayed "because of a lack of jail space and other reasons", the report said, without further explanation. China's state prosecutor's office began clearing away back logged cases on August 1, the report said.
According to a book titled "Disidai" purportedly written by a high-placed government source and published recently in the United States, China has executed up to 15,000 people a year during its four-year-old "strike hard" campaign against crime.