Beijing backs 15-year jail term for Chinese ‘Ivory Queen’

China says it supports Tanzania’s sentence of Yang Fenglan to 15 years in jail for ivory trafficking. The 69-year-old was dubbed the Chinese "Ivory Queen" for organising one of Africa's largest tusk smuggling rings. She was convicted in Dar es Salaam on February 19 for trafficking 860 tusks between 2000 and 2014, contributing to the slaughter of dozens of herds of elephants. Activists estimate that in fact thousands of elephant were likely slaughtered for Yang's smuggling ring. At the time of her arrest in 2015, Yang was the vice-president of the China-Africa Business Council.