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| − | BEIJING, China In the past, stars like Jackie Chan would be featured in cheesy 80s-style Just Say No videos. But now Beijing is co-opting celebrities into their latest anti-drug campaign, whether they like it or not.
| + | The lawsuit follows the April 29 death of inmate Clayton Lockett, who writhed, moaned and clenched his teeth before he was pronounced dead about 43 minutes [url=http://capstone.edu.sg/images/gucciusaonlineoutlet.php]gucci outlet[/url] after his execution began. Prison officials had stopped the execution after discovering a problem with an intravenous line that delivered a three-drug lethal injection. Lockett died of a heart attack. |
| − | This week saw Jaycee Chan, son of Rush Hour actor Jackie, become the latest celebrity , after police raided his house in Beijing s Dongcheng district following a supposed tip-off. They arrested several men.
| + | Officials lowered a shade 16 minutes after Lockett's execution started, blocking witnesses' view of the gurney. The Oklahoma Observer and the Guardian US are asking a federal judge to declare that the press be allowed to view an execution in its entirety. |
| − | More than 100 grams (about 3.5 ounces) of marijuana was found in a safe in the home of Jaycee, who now faces the serious charge of accommodating drug users, which carries a three-year penalty, after admitting to having smoked since 2006.
| + | Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie declined to comment on the filing Monday, saying the department doesn't discuss pending litigation. |
| − | In response, both Chans have gone <a href=http://architectscanterbury.co.uk/page.php?sale=Kate-Spade-Typewriter-Bag>Kate Spade Typewriter Bag</a> on the offensive: to assist with his son s case, his publicist confirmed, and publicly tweeted an apology, saying, I feel very angry and very shocked. As a public figure, I m very ashamed. Meanwhile, in a bid to reduce his sentence, Jaycee has offered up the names of up to 120 fellow celebrity drugs users, Taiwanese newspaper .
| + | Officials at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester have said Lockett's vein collapsed during the lethal injection process, though a full report on his death hasn't been released. |
| − | Chan, the star of numerous flop films like Double Trouble (which garnered a UK box office of just under $10,000, ), remains best known for his father unlike his smoking partner, Taiwanese actor Ko Chen-tung, aka Kai Ko, whose hits include You Are The Apple of My Eye. Ko, like Chan, also tested positive but will be detained on the lesser charge of marijuana use for up to 30 days.
| + | Monday's lawsuit alleges prison officials used the viewing shade inside the execution chamber to block witnesses' view of the procedure both before and after it was under way. |
| − | The case has come under more public scrutiny than usual because of its uneasy mixture of celebrity glamour, the vagaries of fame in China, and the Party s declaration of a zero-tolerance people s war on drugs, in which the most talked-about casualties are prominent public figures. | + | "The assembled press was denied the opportunity to observe Clayton Lockett [url=http://www.avanttravel.com/michaelkorssonline.php] michael kors sale[/url] entering the execution chamber and his intravenous lines being prepared and inserted," it states. The viewing shade was lifted as Lockett's execution began but prison officials lowered it again in the middle of the procedure, "prematurely terminating press access," according to the lawsuit. |
| − | These include recent meth arrests for If You Are The One guest , 39, Mama director Zhang Yuan, reality star Li Daimo and The Bullet Vanishes actor .
| + | Associated Press writer Sean Murphy, who witnessed the execution, described Lockett writhing against the straps that held him on the gurney and gritting [url=http://capstone.edu.sg/images/guccioutlet.onlinesalecc.php]Gucci Shoes[/url] his teeth and moaning. Curtains in the execution chamber were closed about 16 minutes after the injection began. The director of the state's prison system, Robert Patton, later called off the execution, but Lockett died about 10 minutes later. |
| − | In each case, state media has dutifully reported the apparent incredulity of <a href=http://www.cicviseu.net/page.php?sale=Jimmy-Choo-Flat-Boots>Jimmy Choo Flat Boots</a> fans, detailed the accused s penitence and pointed the finger at an , which can breed spiritual emptiness, which makes them susceptible to temptations as China Daily noted. The implication is that such celebrities are outliers, and their misbehavior an aberration in society to be made an example of.
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| − | But the public is proving increasingly cynical of such narratives and not just the stars relentless crocodile tears, but the entire tone of this campaign.
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| − | The use of televised confessions, which has re-emerged as a feature of modern Chinese policing since the arrest of internet celebrity Charles Xue for solicitation, and continued with high-profile cases against the likes of GSK investigator Peter Humphrey and alleged high-class hooker Guo Meimei, has come under particular fire.
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| − | The video, with faces pixelated, showed the bust seemingly in action ( Who gave you this? the police ask. Jaycee replies, I ve had it for a long time. That s a lot of marijuana, an officer observes). The footage of Ko was a vio-lation of human rights said Chiu Hsien-chih, a former president of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, and opposition politicians in Taiwan have expressed concern about the judicial process.
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| − | Yu Guoming, a journalism professor at China s Renmin University, said such confessions should only be after a verdict has been delivered (although with a 99.8 percent conviction rate, an arrest in China is tantamount to the same).
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| − | It s against the law, Zhang Ming, a politics professor at the same university, . Even if it s a star I really don t like it s no different from public shaming.
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| − | The police <a href=http://architectscanterbury.co.uk/page.php?sale=True-Religion-Swim-Shorts>True Religion Uk</a> have been forced to deny the existence of a special unit targeting celebrities for PR takedowns, while speculation has been rife as to motive particularly as Chan Sr. was not only made a goodwill ambassador for the National Narcotics Control Commission in 2009, but is a member of the Chinese People s Political Consultative Conference (which advises the National Political Congress, commonly referred to as China s rubber stamp parlia-ment ) and has been a controversial advocate of authoritarian rule on the mainland. | + | |
| − | It makes political sense to go after the conspicuously wealthy as a sop to China s increasingly disenfranchised, non-wealthy majority, the , adding that the arrests were further evidence of President Xi Jinping consolidating power by thinning out the top ranks.
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| − | But this seems rather stodgy (and Jaycee Chan is hardly anyone s political op-ponent).
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| − | The most credible explanation might be one offered Friday in Securities Daily newspaper . Mergers and acquisitions in the sector have become increasingly cutthroat, meaning companies may be weeded out through competitive selection. Ko, who runs a production company, has lost endorsements and was due to appear in the Tiny Times 4, a lucrative Chinese franchise.
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| − | Competing companies can attempt to nobble each other with rumors and anonymous tip-offs (this week, a bemused-looking Sohu CEO Charles Zhang that he, too, had been detained for drugs). And who led the cops to Jaycee and Ko s private house party? Police say it was an anonymous tip-off.
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| − | http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/140824/china-increasingly-arresting-celebrities-drug-use-jaycee-chan-jackie
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The lawsuit follows the April 29 death of inmate Clayton Lockett, who writhed, moaned and clenched his teeth before he was pronounced dead about 43 minutes [url=http://capstone.edu.sg/images/gucciusaonlineoutlet.php]gucci outlet[/url] after his execution began. Prison officials had stopped the execution after discovering a problem with an intravenous line that delivered a three-drug lethal injection. Lockett died of a heart attack.
Officials lowered a shade 16 minutes after Lockett's execution started, blocking witnesses' view of the gurney. The Oklahoma Observer and the Guardian US are asking a federal judge to declare that the press be allowed to view an execution in its entirety.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie declined to comment on the filing Monday, saying the department doesn't discuss pending litigation.
Officials at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester have said Lockett's vein collapsed during the lethal injection process, though a full report on his death hasn't been released.
Monday's lawsuit alleges prison officials used the viewing shade inside the execution chamber to block witnesses' view of the procedure both before and after it was under way.
"The assembled press was denied the opportunity to observe Clayton Lockett [url=http://www.avanttravel.com/michaelkorssonline.php] michael kors sale[/url] entering the execution chamber and his intravenous lines being prepared and inserted," it states. The viewing shade was lifted as Lockett's execution began but prison officials lowered it again in the middle of the procedure, "prematurely terminating press access," according to the lawsuit.
Associated Press writer Sean Murphy, who witnessed the execution, described Lockett writhing against the straps that held him on the gurney and gritting [url=http://capstone.edu.sg/images/guccioutlet.onlinesalecc.php]Gucci Shoes[/url] his teeth and moaning. Curtains in the execution chamber were closed about 16 minutes after the injection began. The director of the state's prison system, Robert Patton, later called off the execution, but Lockett died about 10 minutes later.
