During a two-hour television broadcast that was part morality play, part propaganda tour de force, the Chinese government sent four foreign drug traffickers to their deaths. They were convicted of killing 13 Chinese sailors two years ago as they sailed down the Mekong River through Burma.
Although Friday's live program ended shortly before the men were executed by lethal injection, it became instantly polarising, with viewers divided on whether the broadcast was a crass exercise in bloodlust or a long-awaited catharsis for a nation outraged by the killings in October 2011.
Some critics said the program recalled an era not long ago when condemned prisoners were paraded through the streets before being shot in the head. Advertisement
One prominent rights lawyer, Liu Xiaoyuan, insisted the show, by the national broadcaster CCTV, violated Chinese criminal code by making a spectacle of the condemned. ''I found it shocking,'' he said.
The program largely focused on Naw Kham, the Burmese ringleader of a drug gang who was accused of orchestrating the brutal execution of the sailors and then making the crime appear drug-related.
Last April six men, including Naw Kham, were apprehended in Laos by a team of investigators that included officers from China, Thailand, Laos and Burma.
Naw Kham and his accomplices were convicted in November during a two-day trial in China's south-west Yunnan province. The condemned men, including a Laotian, a Thai and a third of ''unknown nationality'', reportedly confessed.
The two other men who escaped execution received long prison terms.
The program included interviews with triumphant police officers and images of the condemned men in shackles. The graphic elements that flashed behind the news anchor featured the tagline ''Killing the kingpin''.
Some critics said the broadcast displayed an ugly side of China, which executes more people than all other countries combined.
In a commentary posted on Sina Weibo, CCTV defended the program, saying it demonstrated China's commitment to justice. ''There were no glimpses of the execution. We only saw the drug ringleaders' weaknesses and fear of death,'' it said.
Shortly before the men were led from their cells, Naw Kham said: ''I want to raise my children and have them educated. I don't want to die.''
