China executes 13

China executes 13

BEIJING (Reuters): China has executed 13 people, including an Indonesian, for clubbing 23 seamen to death and throwing their bodies overboard in the country's biggest piracy case in 50 years, the official Xinhua news agency said on Friday.

China's Supreme People's Court issued the order of execution on Friday after approving death sentences passed on the 13 for hijacking the Cheung Son cargo ship in November 1998 in Chinese waters, Xinhua said.

Posing as Chinese paramilitary police, the pirates hijacked the bulk carrier and clubbed 23 Chinese sailors to death before throwing their bodies overboard tied to weights, state media have said.

Thay called it China's biggest piracy case in 50 years.

The pirates, including Chinese citizen Weng Siliang and an Indonesian identified as Soni Wee, sold the contraband for $300,000 and also stole cash, Xinhua said.

Weng and Wee also were involved in the hijacking of two foreign ships, and Wee was found with 156 grams (5.5 ounces) of narcotics when arrested, Xinhua said.