In
an embarrassing media faux pas in China, photos that were posted on state-owned
news websites purportedly showing a woman being executed by lethal injection
had actually come from a fetish site.
The
websites of the state-run Xinhua news agency and the Global Times newspaper,
which is affiliated to the ruling Communist Party, carried the series of about
40 images. There was no story accompanying the photos and the intended purpose
of the post was not clear.
In
them, a distressed young woman—who does not appear to be Chinese—is forcibly
led into a room and strapped to a gurney, and a Caucasian man in a white coat
and wearing a surgical mask appears to administer an injection.
Later
images show the woman in mental and physical anguish before she seems to die.
The final image shows her lying motionless with the front of her dress open
almost to the point of exposing her breasts.
The
series is entitled: "An actual record of the execution of a female inmate:
Unveiling the world's darkest side." The images carry the logo of a
Chinese website specialising in military affairs. That website, however, says
it came from a private post on a Chinese Internet site.
The
embarassment was revealed, however, when China-based website Shanghaiist said
the images came from a pornographic website, where one of them was visible,
titled Lethal Injection.
The
photo gallery is not the first time Chinese media have been caught out,
apparently by inadequate fact-checking.
In
November, the website of the People's Daily reported that North Korean
strongman Kim Jong-Un had been named the "Sexiest Man Alive",
treating a spoof award by satirical US website The Onion as genuine. It later
deleted the report.
In
a 2011 report on a People's Liberation Army Air Force training exercise, state
broadcaster China Central Television used footage taken from the 1980s
Hollywood film "Top Gun".
Despite
the boob, executions are a big deal in China. Executions in China were once
carried out by a single shot to the head from close range, but are now mostly
carried out by lethal injection.
China
does not announce statistics about how many people it executes but rights
groups say it puts more people to death than the rest of the world combined.
In
March, four gang members from Southeast Asian countries were paraded on live
state television as restraining ropes were tied around them before they were
taken away for execution for the murder of 13 sailors on the Mekong river.
Source:
AFP
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