Chinese Prisoners Allowed to Look Pretty Before They’re Killed

[hubag bohol]

By James Turnbull
http://thegrandnarrative.com/





At first, I thought these pictures were part of some form of satirical protest, and failing that, I thought that they were fake. But a quick search reveals that the habit of taking videos and photos of prisoners about to be executed is routine in China (albeit not their release on the internet), and I’ve yet to see any news reports questioning the authenticity of these ones…so it appears that the Chinese government did indeed recently allow 10 female prisoners to dress nicely and wear cosmetics and jewelry before they were executed (9 by firing squad, the one on the left above by electrocution), after which photos of their final moments were accidentally(?) released on the Chinese portal site Mop.

[hubag bohol]

More pics...

[hubag bohol]

[hubag bohol]

Bay Bugs, wa ba kay mahimo diha...

[TUBAGBOHOL.com]

the Philippines should do the same. Too many rapists, murderers, robbers, thieves this country has.

[islander]

these pictures and article by james turnbull were in 2009.  there was this disclaimer:  "Update: Still no more information, but according to this short news report at least, the consensus of netizens and experts is that the pictures are fake, and were released for PR purposes."

weird.  pr for what?  for the chinese cosmetic industry because it can make condemned women look pretty?   

[islander]

Bay Bugs, wa ba kay mahimo diha...

wa gyod, gawas kun mobalhin siya from furniture and interior design to cosmetics manufacturing.

[islander]

the Philippines should do the same. Too many rapists, murderers, robbers, thieves this country has.

ajaw ko ingna nga magpaguwapa pod ang atong rapists, murderers, robbers, etc., hihihi.

[islander]

some comments on james turnbull's article:

I wasn’t aware they did electrocution either. They most commonly use firing squad, and used to charge the relatives of the deceased for the cost of the bullet. It’s hard to be sure how real those photo’s are, as security around such sensitive issues in China would be so strong no journalist would ever be allowed to photograph such clear, accurate shots, and I can’t see why the government would need to either. Although, having lived in China, I can confirm that it is a pretty messed up place in many ways and it is possible that these are real shots! Rich, June 7, 2009

***
Thanks guys.

That original, albeit unreliable Yahoo! Korea report I linked to did say that Chinese netizens were speculating that the government wanted to show a more merciful side, and I also think that some of the older, not particularly glamorous photos shown are real…but on the other hand the ones featuring the woman in the electric chair certainly did seem very artificial looking, and that’s the first time I’ve ever heard of an electric chair being used in China also, which would be particularly strange given the well-known practice of organ harvesting of executed prisoners, and even of their skin too, many articles about which came up when I tried to find out more of these photos on Google. James Turnbull, June 7, 2009

[islander]

I asked my girlfriend (who is Chinese) about this and she said it is common to allow people. especially women, to look and dress the way they want before being executed. She said it was partly for the same reason we afford the condemned a “last meal” of their own request in Western countries (a last act of compassion for those who are about to die), and partly for their families, who are given these photos. Tony Hellmann, June 7, 2009    

***
I doubt that the one girl is in an electric chair, because the chair itself is far too flimsy to stand the forces generated in an electrocution and has no restraints or electrodes. Also as stated above there is no history of electrocution in China.
Photos I have of verifiable female executions in China do seem to show the women are allowed to dress well. This would make sense in the days when they would be condemned at public sentencing rallies and then taken straight to execution (by shooting)
I do not know whether this practice still continues and whether it has been used in the provinces and cities where lethal injection has replaced shooting. Richard Clark, June 7, 2009

[islander]

a standout comment:

I think the photos are a motley collection of still images from TV dramas with a few possible real photos of condemned prisoners. It is apparent from the lighting and the artificial electric chair that the pictures of the woman in a red dress are staged, probably from a drama or a movie. The photo of the woman in a blue suit, followed by two attractive guards, looks very much like an entertainment still shot, too. The image of the bound women lined up in front of poles looks peculiar. The women look more like other images of Chinese prisoners awaiting execution, but why so many young women and not enough poles? Other group execution images usually show an assortment of young and old, male and female.

I googled the cited source, a 2005 story in the Heilongjiang Crime Report about a woman condemned to die for killing her boyfriend. The woman in jeans and a white t-shirt being escorted by a guard is supposedly the woman in the story, which claims that the woman was shot and while being transported to the crematorium, she sat up. Her parents begged for mercy, but the woman was executed again. I could not find the original story itself, only BBS and blog posts dating from November 2008.

If there were a Chinese Scopes, it would likely pronounce most of these photos fake and the story about the woman executed twice an urban myth. Sonagi, June 7, 2009

underscoring mine
http://thegrandnarrative.com/

[hubag bohol]

the Philippines should do the same. Too many rapists, murderers, robbers, thieves this country has.

ajaw ko ingna nga magpaguwapa pod ang atong rapists, murderers, robbers, etc., hihihi.

Aw, pagwapahon sila samtang tua sulod sa prisohan para mapakinabangan...

[hubag bohol]

Bay Bugs, wa ba kay mahimo diha...

wa gyod, gawas kun mobalhin siya from furniture and interior design to cosmetics manufacturing.

Aw, basin bag moboluntaryo siya nga magpagamit alang sa one for the road nga tawhanong kalipay...

[bugsay]

ka anugon sa iyang kaanyag......

[greenmachine]

seriously speaking, i think death penalty should be abolished in any nation on earth.

[hubag bohol]

ka anugon sa iyang kaanyag......

Ang mahimo mo na lang karon mao ang paghinumdom sa kanunay...