Karm Gilespie: Aussie actor could be executed in China if bid to overturn drug trafficking conviction fails

Karm Gilespie, who once starred in TV drama series Blue Heelers, is facing the death penalty if a bid to overturn his drug trafficking conviction fails.

Gilespie, who is now 61, was arrested in December 2013 when border police found 7.5kg of methamphetamine in his luggage at Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou, China.

He has been held in a prison cell in Guangzhou ever since.

While Gilespie has always maintained his innocence, he was found guilty and sentenced to death in June 2020.

Despite appealing his conviction a month later, the outcome has never been released. According to the court’s website, the verdict will be announced at a later date.

“There is usually a death penalty review after the appeal verdict involving the Supreme People’s Court conducting a special review and approval process for cases sentenced to death,” Chinese criminal lawyer Jin Ling told the Daily Telegraph.

“Judges reviewing the death penalty are very cautious, especially when involving foreign citizens – the result will rarely be different.”

Ms Ling said the COVID-19 pandemic might have contributed to delays with the verdict, but revealed its a possibility that an outcome still hasn’t been reached, or that the death sentence is still under review.

Gilespie will be executed immediately either by a lethal injection or firing squad if his sentence is not overturned.

The former actor is one of three Australians facing the death penalty in China.

He is reportedly in the same prison as Peter Gardner, who was arrested in 2014 at the same airport and charged with allegedly trafficking 30kg of methamphetamine.

The third is Yang Hengjun, an author, who travelled to Guangzhou in 2019 and was intercepted by border patrol.

The Nightly has reached out to DFAT for comment.