A Chinese man who was expelled from Canada as an illegal immigrant last year has been sentenced to death in China.

The 36-year-old man was found guilty of embezzling about $200,000 of public money from a bank in eastern China where he worked in 1990.

He then fled to Canada, where he managed to stay for the next eight years, until he was expelled as an illegal immigrant in January 1999.

Once back in China, Mr Fang was arrested and put on trial.

Now he has been sentenced to death.

Illegal immigrants

A spokesman for the Canadian embassy in Beijing told reporters it was probable immigration authorities were unaware Mr Fang might face the death penalty when they decided to expel him.

Nevertheless, the case is sure to raise questions about Canada's efforts to repatriate an ever increasing number of illegal Chinese immigrants arriving in the country.

Canada has sent convicted murderers back to face the death penalty in countries with which it has an extradition treaty.

But Canada and China have no extradition treaty - and as this case shows, China executes people for a whole range of crimes, many of them economic.