The Coronavirus pandemic has delayed the drug trafficking case involving a 30-year-old Malawian, Estina Mukasera, in China
Mukasera was arrested at an airport in Hong Kong in 2018 after being found with 2190 grams of the illegal drug.
Human rights activist Robert Mkwezalamba has been pushing for Mukasera’s repatriation to Malawi and he has told the local media that the case has been decayed by the Coronavirus pandemic.
“Covid-19 challenges have slowed down a number of process including her situation in Hong Kong because as we spoke last time she was due to take plea, but as of now she is yet to be charged,” he said.
He added that Mukasera can only be repatriated to Malawi after being formally charged.
According to Mkwezalamba, his organisation got in touch with some South African girls who were released in China and they asked the organisation to work with the Malawi Government.
Mukasera was pregnant at the time of her arrest and she now has a son. The two are together in custody and, according to Mkwezalamba, the boy is in good health.
In China, drug traffickers are sometimes sentenced to death by lethal injection.
