Pubdate: Tue, 29 Dec 2009
Source: New York Times (NY)
Page: A6
Copyright: 2009 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: David Barboza
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Akmal+Shaikh
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

A BRITON IS EXECUTED IN CHINA, BRITAIN SAYS

SHANGHAI -- A British man convicted of drug smuggling was executed in 
China early Tuesday, despite appeals for clemency from his family, 
human rights groups and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain, 
according to British officials.

The man, Akmal Shaikh, 53, was executed in the far western Chinese 
region of Xinjiang, where he had been convicted in 2008 of entering 
the country carrying a suitcase stuffed with heroin. It was not clear 
how the execution was carried out.

Mr. Brown immediately released a statement on Tuesday saying that he 
condemned the execution "in the strongest terms" and that he was 
"appalled" that the court did not grant Mr. Shaikh clemency.

British officials pressed the courts to consider Mr. Shaikh's history 
of mental disturbance. Britain had called on the courts to allow an 
independent evaluation of Mr. Shaikh's mental state. But China's 
highest court rejected a last minute appeal from the victim's family 
this week, and it allowed the execution to go ahead.

Human rights groups say that Mr. Shaikh, a former London minicab 
driver, was the first European to be executed in the country in over 50 years.

China's state-run news media on Tuesday blamed the Western news media 
for "politicizing" the execution, and it said that government 
officials had determined that there was insufficient evidence that 
Mr. Shaikh had suffered from mental health problems.

China's drug trafficking laws are harsh, and its criminal justice 
system carried out about 1,700 executions last year, according to 
Amnesty International.

Mr. Shaikh was born in Pakistan and moved to Britain at age 11. 
Family members say he has a long history of mental problems and he 
had been duped into carrying the suitcase. He left for China in 2007, 
they said, hoping to start a career as a pop singer. 
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