India, April 6 -- France said China has executed a French citizen convicted of drug trafficking after keeping him on death row for more than 15 years.

Chan Thao Phoumy, 62, was executed in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, despite French authorities' clemency appeals, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Saturday. It didn't say when the sentence was carried out. A Chinese court sentenced him to death in 2010. The ministry's statement expressed "consternation" and added: "We particularly regret that Mr. Chan's defence did not have access to the final court hearing, which constitutes a violation of his rights." "We extend our condolences to his family, whose grief we share," it said. In a short statement Sunday that d...