Three people were executed Friday in southwest China's Yunnan Province for abducting and selling 11 children.

The Intermediate People's Court of the provincial capital Kunming upheld the death sentence for the three kidnappers -- a woman and two men -- after they lost an appeal for lighter penalty at Yunnan Provincial Higher People's Court.

The three were originally sentenced to death on August 19, said Zhu Zhengyu, a judge put in charge of the case at the Kunming court.

Court investigations have found that 38-year-old woman Yu Mingfen and 24-year-old Ren Shunbo abducted 11 boys, all between two and three years old, from several villages in their home county of Huize between April 2001 and November 2003, and sold them to Ning Dewan, a man in the same county, for 2,400 yuan (US$290) to 3,500 yuan each (US$420).

Ning later resold the children to three other traffickers, who eventually sold them to Jinjiang and Nan'an cities in the southeastern Fujian Province, for 11,000 yuan (US$1,300) each, said Zhu.

Seven of the children have been rescued by police, while four are still missing, he said.

Several others were also convicted and given sentences ranging from six years to life in prison.

Zhu said police authorities in the southwestern border province have intensified a crackdown on trafficking of women and children to maintain social stability and boost personal safety of the citizens.

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2004)