South African Woman Faces Death Sentence in China

AP reports on a South African woman facing the death penalty in China on drug smuggling charges:

South Africa’s foreign affairs department said in a statement Friday the sentence was confirmed by a court in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

South Africa says its ambassador in China is leading efforts to have the sentence commuted. A final decision rests with a higher court in Beijing.

According to a report Friday in China’s state-run Guangzhou Daily, a South African identified as Janice Bronwyn Linden flew from Dubai to Guangzhou in November 2008. Authorities say she was found with two bags of the drug methamphetamine hydrochloride.