CSO dates Chinese ambassador over death penalty for a Malawian

A civil society organization, Human Rights Defenders has written the Chinese ambassador to Malawi to seek an audience in order to discuss a possible repatriation of a Malawian woman who is now on death row in China for drug trafficking.

Human Rights Defenders leader Robert Mkwezalamba said his organization wants the woman, Estina Mkasera, to be brought to Malawi and answer the charges in the country.

“In China, the sentence for the offence is death sentence and she cannot have legal representation there. In Malawi, she will have legal representation and the sentence cannot be death. This is an issue of human rights, this is why we are coming in,” he said.

Mkwezalamba said the Chinese embassy is yet to respond to the letter but said Malawi has treated well Chinese criminals who have contravened the laws of the country who include those who externalize money and those who trade in illegal wildlife products like ivory.

“That woman should be given a second chance, she should not die. We do not condone criminality of any sort but we would want human rights to be applied to any human being be it a criminal or not,” he said.

Chinese embassy officials did not pick up phone when Nyasa Times tried to call them for their comment whilst officials from the ministry of Foreign Affairs at Capital Hill in Lilongwe refused to comment on the matter, saying they did not have details