of first instance, after receiving the final judgment from the SPC, to inform the prisoner as well as their close relatives of the imminent execution and allow them to meet. The court may also allow the person facing execution to meet their extended family and friends for the last time but this is only if there is a “valid reason” for such a meeting. The guidelines state that the prisoner has the right to record any last words, including through video and audio recording. Prior to these new guidelines being issued, the sister of one man sentenced to death said that normally the family are only allowed to meet with the inmate once before execution and she did not feel that this was enough, and in some circumstances families may not meet at all. She also felt that the scope should be extended to include other family members and friends, not necessarily only immediate family. The Criminal Procedure Law, article 252 states that “after the death penalty has been carried out, the enforcing court shall notify the criminal's family” but there have been cases of family members only finding out through public reports rather than directly through the courts. It remains to be seen whether or not these new provisions have made a difference in practice. Given the rights of the detainee and family members to prepare for death, in the case of foreign detainees there is a special obligation on consular officials to, with the consent of the detainee, inform the families of the date of execution. Consular officials should also ensure that the body can be repatriated or, where not possible, ensure the body is buried according to the religion or beliefs of the deceased.41 Access to a Lawyer For further details on legal assistance and the death penalty see Chapter 5. Under the new 2019 SPC Provisions on the death penalty the defence lawyer should be notified by the relevant court of the SPC final verdict within five days after its announcement. Prior to these guidelines, after the SPC Review stage the lawyer of the defendant was not directly informed of the verdict and whether or not the death sentence had been approved. It is not known the extent to which courts are following these guidelines in practice. Prior to their release it was common for family members to hear of the execution before the lawyer. This raises the issue of when the defendant is informed about the result and how much time is given for them to meet with their lawyer and family before the execution takes place. In one of the cases we have seen, the sister of a person sentenced to death believed that it was immoral to give the lawyer notice so late and it also negatively affected the person sentenced to death as well as their family members. Time until Execution According to research, the average time spent between SPC approval and execution is two months.42 However, this is difficult to determine due to the lack of official data. For certain cases such as drugrelated offenses the death sentence may be approved, but the date for execution could be delayed. 41 Callamard, Agnes. Report of the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. A/74/318. 20 August, 2019. https://undocs.org/A/74/318 42 Duihua. ‘China’s Average “Death Row” Prisoner Waits 2 Months for Execution.’ 27 April, 2016. https://www.duihuaresearch.org/2016/04/chinas-average-death-row-prisoner-waits.html 54