China executes British citizen for drug smuggling

www.timesofearth.com – Shaikh is the first EU national to be executed in China in more than 50 years. BEIJING, CHINA – China has executed a British man, said by his relatives to be mentally ill, after he was convicted of drug smuggling. The execution of Akmal Shaikh by lethal injection on Tuesday morning followed last minute appeals for clemency from his family and senior UK officials. Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, criticised Beijing’s move, saying that he was “appalled and disappointed that our persistent requests for clemency have not been granted”. In a statement following confirmation that the sentence had been carried out, Brown condemned the execution “in the strongest terms”. “I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken,” the prime minister’s statement said. Shaikh was arrested in 2007 after he was found carrying a suitcase containing 4kg of heroin. His family have said that he was tricked into carrying the suitcase by a gang in Poland, where he had been living for at least six years. “He [Shaikh] was caught with about eighty times the amount of minimum heroin required for a death penalty in this country. “From the Chinese point of view, that is what they’re focusing on, not the possible mental condition of the defendant.” A report on the court ruling by Xinhua, the Chinese official news agency, said that “the criminal regulations of our nation are implemented for all crimes equally and in accordance with appropriate laws …
Video Rating: 3 / 5