DUSHANBE, January 29, 2016, Asia-Plus -- Chinese authorities have executed a Tajik national convicted of drug trafficking, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports.

Tajik Foreign Ministry officials told RFE/RL that Hasan Yusufov, 51, was executed early in the morning on January 28.

Tajik Embassy representatives were allowed to meet with Yusufov before his execution, the officials said.

Yusufov was arrested in Urumqi, the capital of China''s northwestern region of Xinjiang, in 2011 and was charged with drug trafficking.

He was later found guilty and sentenced to death.

All attempts by the Tajik Embassy to overturn the death sentence were fruitless, the Foreign Ministry officials said, adding that talks were under way to bring Yusufov''s body home to Tajikistan.

Tajik officials said earlier that 16 Tajik citizens were currently in China''s prison system, four of whom are on death row while five are serving life terms.