Facing their last moments with a smile. A painful walk: At 7am in
the morning, the convicts are walked into the execution ground to face
their death as the guards watch them
Facing their last moments with a smile: The Chinese women about to be executed for drug smuggling
A
young woman sits cross-legged on the ground laughing playfully as she
is fed a lychee. Another plays cards in pair of baggy pink pyjamas.
The moving images could show any group of young women as they go about their daily lives in prison.
But
just hours - and in some cases minutes - after the pictures were taken,
each of the four women were led into a concrete yard and executed.
Dai Donggui tries on an outfit for her to wear before her execution
A
female police officer feeds a lychee to condemned drug dealer Dai
Donggu Last wishes: At 10:15pm the evening before her execution, an
inmate records condemned drug trafficker Li Juhua's last will and
testament
Preparations: Ms Donggui, in handcuffs and ankle
shackles, neatly folds her red clothes onto the mattress she'll sleep on
before she's shot in the morning
Her last
meal: Ms Donggui picks up a bowl of green bean soup on a red stool, that
also has McDonalds fries, a burger and ice cream on
The
previously unseen photographs have emerged for the first time in nearly a
decade - and give an incredibly rare glimpse into final moments of
Chinese prisoners on death row.
Communist
officials are notoriously guarded about the death penalty, in a country
that carries out more executions than any other.
But
in an unprecedented move, an unnamed civilian photographer was allowed
inside No 1 Detention Centre for women in the industrial city of Wuhan,
in central China.
The man took a series of
pictures on June 24, 2003. But so sensitive were the photographs, that
the authorities banned them from being published. The Government feared
they would evoke sympathy for the female prisoners.
He
Xiuling, the youngest of the female death row inmates, is excited and
exaggerated Another female prisoner feeds Ms Xiuling dumplings for a
late-night snack A fragment of dignity: Ms Xiuling smiles as she
squeezes into the new shoes she will wear for the execution
A
last moment of joy: Ms Xiuling sits with prison guards and inmates the
night before her execution, revealing her natural lively side as she
rests her head against another woman
Passing time:
Ms
Xiuling and Ma Qingxiu, both sentenced to die, play cards with other
inmates not on death-row as guards look on. The group appear relaxed and
upbeat
Until now they had remained unseen.
However, last week the pictures were published for the first time on
Phoenix TV, a broadcaster in Hong Kong.
The
photographer was granted access to Ma Qingxiu, Li Juhua, Dai Donggui and
He Xiuling from 9pm until 7.21 am the next morning. The women had all
been convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to death.
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