A senior official of China's top corruption watchdog reiterated yesterday that Lai Changxing, an accused smuggler who is seeking refuge in Canada, would not be sentenced to death or tortured if he were repatriated.

Gan Yisheng, secretary-general of the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, told a news conference that the government would keep its promise not to execute Lai and denied that he would be tortured.

Gan urged Lai to give himself up and return to China.

"There is an old expression in Chinese 'The sea of bitterness has no bounds, repent and the shore is at hand'," Gan said.

"We say to Lai Changxing: Do not obstinately stick to the wrong course. The sensible choice is to make up your mind as soon as possible, come back and give yourself up," the stern-faced official added. "The motherland's door is always open."

Lai, who fled with his family to Canada in 1999, has been seeking refugee status there.

He is accused of running a multibillion-dollar smuggling ring in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province, in the 1990s.

He was charged with bribing officials and police to avoid taxes and duties on goods ranging from oil to cigarettes that were brought into the port city.

He concluded a risk-assessment on his extradition to China with a Canadian court last month. The court has not yet decided on the case.

The bone of contention lies in whether he would be subject to torture or execution if returned. Canada has not executed anyone since 1962, and its supreme court has in the past ruled against the extradition of suspects facing the death penalty in their home countries, saying that extradition would be unconstitutional.

(China Daily 02/14/2007 page4)