SHANGHAI, China (AP) - China marked a U.N. anti-drug day by executing 64 people accused of drug crimes, officials and state media said Wednesday.
Many of the executions on Tuesday and Wednesday came immediately after public rallies where thousands watched judges condemn the accused.
China usually marks International Anti-Drug Day on June 26 with a wave of publicized executions, underscoring authorities' belief that harsh punishments are an effective weapon against the spread of drugs. U.N. officials have said they do not condone the practice.
Another 188 people also accused of drug crimes were given prison terms of up to life at the rallies.
The biggest number of executions came in the southwestern city of Chongqing, where 24 people were shot Wednesday for drug crimes, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. The report said most of those executed were found guilty of trafficking heroin.
Executions in China are usually by gunshot to the back of the head or through the heart.
In Shanghai three men were executed after being condemned in front of a 1,000-strong crowd for smuggling, heroin, Ecstasy and crystal methamphetamine - also known as "ice," said a spokesman for the Shanghai Higher People's Court, which organized the rally.
Another 52 people accused of drug crimes got prison terms of a few years to life, said the spokesman, who gave only his family name, Huang.
In the southwest city of Chengdu, nine men were shot Tuesday after a rally in which thousands cheered as police burned piles of seized heroin and Ecstasy, a state-run newspaper said.
Five more people were given suspended death sentences, usually reduced to life sentences for good behavior, said the Sichuan Zaixian Yitianfu newspaper.
Other executions were carried out in the southern and eastern provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui, and in the capital Beijing.
Drug use was all but wiped out after the Communist Party swept to power in 1949. Dealers were shot and addicts forced to quit cold turkey.
Drugs returned with relaxed social and economic controls in the 1980s. China had more than 900,000 drug addicts as of the end of 2001, state media reported.