The penalty of death is too harsh, in any jurisdiction, and moreso for the accused  prosecuted and tried in a foreign country without possibly the  benefit of the best  defenses available  substantively and procedurally: Elizabeth Batain, Ramon Credo, and Sally Ordinario Villanueva, convicted of drug trafficking in China and scheduled for lethal injection any minute now.    Also, the judicial system of China is more “inquisitorial” than “adversarial” ( in an “adversarial” litigation, the presumption of innocence is allowed to hold sway ); i’m also not sure that they were able to avail of the best legal assistance.  But these are paradigmatic arguments — useless and too late . i know. i hope the Chinese authorities find it in their hearts to stay the execution one more time and see that busting the drug syndicate itself by making use of state witnesses may have more profound effects in solving the pernicious heroin and cocaine trade …

Our prayers for Elizabeth Batain, Ramon Credo, Sally Ordinario Villanueva.