Queensland man Ibrahim Jalloh was sentenced to death in China. Photo / Supplied
Queensland man Ibrahim Jalloh was sentenced to death in China. Photo / Supplied
Karm Gilespie isn't the only Australian to receive an execution order in China. Another is an intellectually disabled man who says he was set up.
Australian man Karm Gilespie's execution order in China has shocked Australia but history shows Beijing has been willing to execute westerners – and Australians – for similar alleged crimes.
Gilespie, 56, was sentenced to death for allegedly carrying 7.5kg of methamphetamine in his check-in luggage while attempting to board an international flight from Baiyun Airport, in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, in 2013.
He was arrested in secret and news of his sentence only emerged over the weekend. The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court has given him just 10 days to appeal the verdict.
Gilespie's friend, Roger James Hamilton, wrote on Facebook that the former Blue Heelers actor had a meeting with a "group of Chinese business people" prior to his flight and that the group "agreed to invest in one of Karm's projects".
Gilespie says they duped him by asking him to carry "gifts" on board the flight.
Australian national Karm Gilespie who has been sentenced to death in China. Photo / Supplied
As Australia attempts to negotiate a mercy deal with China, commentators say Gilespie's sentence is political.
But China does not appear to discriminate when it comes to drugs and death row. According to Amnesty International, murder, rape, arson and spying are all crimes for which the communist regime can apply the death penalty, but crimes involving drugs make up half of all death sentences in China.
Queensland men Ibrahim Jalloh and Bengali Sherrif were arrested in 2013 for what Chinese authorities say was a plot to smuggle crystal meth through Guangzhou airport.
Jalloh, who has an intellectual disability, and Sherrif were held in secret until details of their alleged crime were revealed in 2014.
The pair were handed suspended death sentences which were later commuted to life in prison.
Like Gilespie, Jalloh claims he was set up. He says he was unaware of the contents of bags he was asked to carry on board an aircraft.
Australian man Henry Chhin was intercepted by Shanghai police with 270g of ice concealed in computer equipment that was being sent from China to Australia in 2005.
Thank you to everyone who has been sharing the message about Karm Gilespie and the death sentence China has given him....
He was sentenced to death and his sentence was suspended for two years.
But Shenzen police uncovered a further 700g of methamphetamine in cabinets at Chhin's residence, and his fate is currently unclear.
NSW man and dual Australian and New Zealand citizen Peter Gardner allegedly tried to board a flight with suitcases full of ice. The bags were superglued shut when they were discovered at Guangzhou Airport in November 2014.
The ice had a street value of $20 million, authorities said – making it the biggest haul of methamphetamine ever seized at the airport.
He is awaiting his sentence inside a Guangzhou prison.
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to Gilespie and a spokesperson says the department is "deeply saddened to hear of the verdict".
"Australia opposes the death penalty, in all circumstances for all people," the spokesperson said.
"We support the universal abolition of the death penalty and are committed to pursuing this goal through all the avenues available to us."
Australia is not the only Western nation feeling the brunt of China's hard line sentencing. Two Canadian nationals were sentenced to death last year on drug trafficking charges.
The Trudeau Government is pleading for clemency for Fan Wei and Robert Schellenberg without success.
Professor Clive Hamilton from Charles Sturt University says China is displeased Australia is not "giving way" to Beijing because they are a bigger country.
"China has clearly decided that Australia is irredeemably racist", Hamilton told the ABC on Monday.
"(China thinks) that we are merely a pawn of the United States. That it can't win us back anymore, and that it is just going to pull out the hammer and start beating us as they've now done in several different ways, just as they have with Canada," he said.
"And so, it's been extremely interesting to see the way in which the Morrison Government and the Prime Minister, himself, have been really quite clear about this.
"They haven't engaged in insults or attacks. They've just said, 'No, we're going to stand firm and defend Australian values and Australian interests'. And this will be extremely galling to Beijing."
