CONVICTED ‘IVORY QUEEN’ SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON

A Tanzanian court sentenced a convicted ivory trafficker, nicknamed the “Ivory Queen,” to fifteen years in prison.

Between 2000 and 2004, Yang Fenglan worked with two Tanzanian men, Salivius Matembo and Manase Philemon, to smuggle 860 pieces of ivory to Asia. The trio smuggled the tusks of more than 350 elephants — over two tons of ivory — valued at $5.6 million.

All three criminals, who have denied the allegations against them, were convicted of leading an organized criminal gang.

Prosecutors stated in court documents that Fenglan “intentionally did organize, manage and finance a criminal racket by collecting, transporting or exporting and selling government trophies.”

Each smuggler was sentenced to fifteen years by Kisutu Court Magistrate Huruma Shaidi. Shaidi also imposed a fine of twice the market value of the elephant tusks or two additional years in prison.

Fenglan, a Chinese national, has lived in Tanzania on-and-off since the 1970s and owns a restaurant in Dar es Salaam. She was also the secretary-general of the Tanzania China-Africa Business Council. The disgraced businesswoman was arrested for her crimes in October 2015 following a high-speed traffic chase with law enforcement.

The sentence has received mixed reactions. Some wildlife conservation groups, including Tanzania-based PAMS Foundation, praised the ruling. Krissie Clark, the organization’s executive director, stated: “The government is taking wildlife trafficking very seriously, and an attack on Tanzania’s wildlife is seen as an attack on Tanzania.”

Other organizations believe a fifteen-year sentence is too short. In a statement to Reuters, WWF country director Amani Ngusaru said: “(It) is not punishment enough for the atrocities she committed, by being responsible for the poaching of thousands of elephants in Tanzania.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang expressed support for the Tanzanian government’s actions against Fenglan while speaking in Beijing Shuang cited China’s policy of prosecuting individuals who break the country’s strict wildlife protection laws.

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TANZANIA CONVICTS CHINESE ‘IVORY QUEEN’ TRAFFICKER

NAIROBI - A Tanzanian court on Tuesday convicted a Chinese woman dubbed the “Ivory Queen” for her role in trafficking tusks from more than 400 elephants.

Yang Fenglan, 69, was convicted in Dar es Salaam of trafficking 860 tusks between 2000 and 2014, a haul representing the slaughter of dozens of herds of elephants.

Two Tanzanian men were also found guilty for their role in illegal commerce.

“The prosecution proved the case against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt,” Judge Huruma Shaidi told the court.

The sentences are yet to be announced, but Fenglan faces up to 30 years in prison.

Wildlife campaigners have called it one of the most important cases for several years.

Fenglan, who has lived in the East African nation since the 1970s, was convicted of organising a smuggling ring between Tanzania and Asia.

When she was arrested in 2015 she was vice president of the China-Africa Business Council of Tanzania.

Poaching has seen the population of African elephants fall by 110,000 over the past decade to just 415,000 animals, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The slaughter is being fuelled especially by demand in Asia, where ivory is used for jewellery and ornamentation.

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