Chinese madam who ran prostitution racket executed
The female head of a gang that forced hundreds of women to work as prostitutes in south-west China has been executed.
Wang Ziqi, who ran the gang in the metropolis of Chongqing, was sentenced to death in August 2010 for luring the women to work in brothels disguised as teahouses, beauty salons or hotels.
She and her sister, Wang Wanning, 'seized the women's identity cards, harmed family members, ruined their reputations and detained them illegally', according to cqnews.net.
Syndicate: Wang Ziqi, centre, was executed after being convicted of forcing hundreds of women into prostitution in the Chinese city of Chongqing, along with associate Gu Mingtao
The gang also arranged for people to teach the women the 'skills' of prostitution.
More than 300 women were forced into prostitution between 1994 and 2009, with seven dying in mysterious circumstances, according to the Chinese news site.
In 2003, one woman jumped from the eighth floor of a teahouse and was paralysed. She was kept locked up until she was released by police in September 2009.
The women were forced to work even when they had their period or had undergone forced abortions. If they refused, they were beaten and put in a dark room for days without food.
Wang Ziqi appealed against her conviction, but when it failed she was put to death today.
Empire: Wang ran a crime syndicate in Chongqing which lured women to tea houses, hotels and beauty salons before forcing them into prostitution
An image released by the Xinhua news agency showed her, along with associate Gu Mingtao, dressed in thickly padded pajamas, their hands cuffed, in a Chongqing court as their death sentences were upheld.
She is one of many gang members who have been executed in the city as part of a massive crackdown on corruption and organised crime between 2009 and 2010 by Communist Party chief Bo Xilai.
Wang Wanning fled the country after her sister's arrest, but was caught and extradited back to China in April. It is unclear if she has been put on trial.
A Filipino drug trafficker was also put to death today, despite a plea for clemency from the Philippine president.
Hours before he was executed, the unnamed man was allowed briefly to meet two siblings and two cousins who travelled to south China's Guangxi province.
He was then led to a courtroom, where the sentence was read and he was taken to the death chamber in Liuzhou, two hours from the prison, where he was given a lethal injection.
Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay said: 'The subject was very calm, but his family was crying.'
The 35-year-old, who has not been identified in either country, was arrested in 2008 at Guilin International Airport while trying to smuggle 3.3lbs of heroin from Malaysia.
Smuggling more than 1.76 ounces of heroin or other drugs is punishable by death in China.
China, the world's most prolific executioner, refuses to admit how many prisoners it puts to death every year. Amnesty International estimates it is in the thousands.
Read more: Madam who ran gang that forced hundreds of women to work as prostitutes in China metropolis executed by lethal injection | Mail Online