Akmal Shaikh facing execution in China does not yet know he is to be killed later this week and will only find out 24 hours in advance, it has emerged.
I have been following this sad story and am putting this on the blog, so that if you read this post you might have a quick prayer for Akmal Shaikh.
I read earlier in the week that this guy is thought to suffer from Bipolar disorder and to be frank, reading about some of his exploits and behaviour patterns in the national newspapers, he is most certainly not a well guy mentally. He travelled somewhere abroad with the dream of starting an airline, even though he didn’t have much in the way of cash or any experience. He went to China to try to become a pop star even though he has no singing experience and somewhere along the way, seems to have been duped by drug smugglers.
I also read that he would send his family incoherent and grandiose letters, and to me all of this really does seem to indicate, that the family are right and this guy is not well mentally and should most certainly not be facing execution.
Please do pray that the Chinese authorities would have compassion on this poor fellow:-
A Briton facing execution in China does not yet know he is to be killed later this week and will only find out 24 hours in advance, it has emerged.
Akmal Shaikh, 53, from London, is due to be executed on 29 December after he was convicted of smuggling heroin.
Legal charity Reprieve said the lack of notice “raises obvious concerns” and hopes the authorities “show clemency”.
Mr Shaikh’s supporters say he is mentally ill and Gordon Brown has asked Chinese authorities for clemency.
Two of his cousins, Soohail and Nasir Shaikh, are in China and plan to deliver a last-ditch plea for mercy on his behalf to President Hu Jintao.
British consular staff have also flown to the Chinese region of Xinjiang to see the condemned Briton and discuss his case with local officials.
According to Reprieve, Chinese authorities have said knowledge of his execution is being withheld from the prisoner on “humanitarian grounds”.
Clive Stafford Smith, the charity’s director, said: “We hope that the Chinese authorities have kept him in the dark that his execution is only hours away because they are going to show clemency.
“Only then would it truly be humanitarian for him to be the only person in the world not allowed to know.”
The man’s relatives intend to deliver petitions seeking a legal review to China’s Supreme People’s Court and to the local court in the north-western city of Urumqi where Mr Shaikh was arrested in September 2007.
Reprieve said the men, who are brothers, also planned to appeal to China’s president and to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, which is responsible for considering petitions for pardon or clemency.
Bipolar disorder
Mr Shaikh has had no contact with his family for two years, but the cousins hope they may be granted a prison visit with him.
The Briton has denied all knowledge of the 4kg of heroin found in his possession.
His family say he has bipolar disorder and was duped by a criminal gang into unwittingly carrying drugs for them.
The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville said Mr Shaikh’s relatives want to explain that he had “suffered from long-term mental illness” and travelled to China to pursue a “fantasy” belief in a possible career as a pop star.
“They believe he was not responsible for himself and certainly not responsible for drug trafficking,” said our correspondent.
He added that the situation was getting “very desperate” for the Briton because the Chinese authorities do not have a reputation for leniency.
‘Devastating blow’
Soohail Shaikh says in his petition: “We plead for his life, asking that a full mental health evaluation be conducted to assess the impact of his mental illness, and that recognition be made that he is not as culpable as those who might, under Chinese law, be eligible for the death penalty.”
Mr Stafford Smith said the Chinese Embassy authorities had been “kind” and opened on 26 December to facilitate a visa for this visit, “recognising the devastating blow that this execution date has inflicted on the entire family”.
“We very much hope that this compassionate approach continues to the point of granting Akmal a reprieve,” he said.
So far China has resisted calls to stop the execution, despite the case being raised by the UK 10 times during the last six months at senior diplomatic levels.
The prime minister has also written to China’s leaders to express his dismay after Mr Shaikh’s sentence was upheld by the Supreme People’s Court.
If the sentence is carried out, it would be the first time an EU national has been executed in China for 50 years.
Tags: News
December 27th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
hes so mentaly ill he flys to china to make a record ! hes a drugs pusher and hes doing it for fast cash he need to meet the piper now
December 28th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Remember to check your bags for illegal drugs before travelling to China and other countries where penalties are stiff.
December 28th, 2009 at 11:25 am
He has now been advised of his impeding execution:-
BBC
A British man found guilty of drug smuggling in China has been told he will be executed on Tuesday morning.
Akmal Shaikh, from London, has reportedly been told by his family that he faces death in the next 24 hours.
The 53-year-old has denied all knowledge of the 4kg of heroin found in his possession in the remote north-western city of Urumqi in 2007.
His family say he is mentally ill. His cousins told him of his fate but they told the BBC he “hasn’t given up hope”.
Mr Shaikh’s cousins, Soohail and Nasir Shaikh, spent an hour and a half with him on Monday at the secure hospital in Urumqi where he is being held. They are now returning to Beijing.
Mr Shaikh has been detained in hospital since August, suffering from high blood pressure.
Legal charity Reprieve has been working with Mr Shaikh and his family.
Sally Rowen, legal director of Reprieve’s death penalty team, said: “He has been told this morning that he is to be executed tomorrow morning.
“I do not know what his reaction was but I just know that he has been told. The Chinese authorities had always said they would tell him 24 hours ahead.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8432351.stm
December 28th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
well 4kg of heroin fetchs a nice price even better when the 4kg is mixed and then sold and people die from heroin so 1 more life wont matter + thats 4kg of the gear off the streets
Akmal Shaikh
I am a drug trafficer man
They say this day that I must hang
Cause I fought the i was mental
They say that I must pay
Well they say this day that I must hang.
So build my gallows build them high
That I might see before I die
chinese and the hills of great wall
And I’ll not see the lights of home.
Well I am a drugs trafficer man
They say this day that I must hang
I thought those chins where thick
And I’d do it all again
They say this day that I must hang.
So build my gallows build them high
That I might see before I die
chinese and the hills of great wall
And I’ll not see again the lights of home.
I am a drugs trafficer man
They say this day that I must hang
Well I thought that the chinks are thick
And I was freed to my native land
They say this day that I must hang.
So build my gallows build them high
That I might see before I die
chinese and the hills of great wall
And I’ll not see again the lights of home.
chinese and the hills of great wall
And I’ll not see again the lights of home.
December 29th, 2009 at 3:11 am
I’m not religious but I hope that this mans life will be spared. He made a terrible mistake, who hasn’t made mistakes among us – yet for him to pay with his life is wrong. The punishment must fit the crime, a death penalty for smuggling drugs isn’t justice, it’s barbarism.
December 29th, 2009 at 8:41 am
I am gutted about this:-
BBC
A British man convicted of drug smuggling in China has been executed, the Foreign Office has confirmed.
Akmal Shaikh, 53, a father-of-three, of London, had denied any wrongdoing and his family said he was mentally ill.
The execution took place despite repeated calls from his family and the British government for clemency.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was “appalled and disappointed”. But the Chinese Embassy said Mr Shaikh had no previous record of mental illness.
Mr Shaikh’s family made continued calls for leniency right up until the execution deadline, citing his mental state, saying that he suffered from bipolar disorder.
His daughter Leilla Horsnell said: “I am shocked and disappointed that the execution went ahead with no regards to my dad’s mental health problems, and I struggle to understand how this is justice.”
In a statement issued after the execution, the Chinese Embassy said Mr Shaikh’s rights “were properly respected and guaranteed” and British concerns were “duly noted and taken into consideration”.
It said: “As for his possible mental illness which has been much talked about, there apparently has been no previous medical record.”
A report from the official Chinese news agency Xinhua said that China’s Supreme People’s Court had not been provided with any documentation proving that Mr Shaikh had a mental disorder.
Mr Shaikh is the first EU national to be executed in China in more than 50 years.
British diplomatic sources say it is likely he died by lethal injection.
His body will not be repatriated to the UK, and as a Muslim he will be buried within 24 hours.
They said he had been delusional and duped into a carrying a suitcase that did not belong to him when he was found with 4kg of heroin in Urumqi, north-west China, in September 2007.
His daughter has said drug smugglers in Poland convinced him they would make him a popstar in China.
‘Inadequate interpretation’
Foreign Office minister Ivan Lewis held last-ditch talks with the Chinese ambassador in London on Monday evening.
Mr Lewis said the government had made 27 representations to China in two years, and believed it had done everything it possibly could.
In a statement, Mr Brown said: “I condemn the execution of Akmal Shaikh in the strongest terms, and am appalled and disappointed that our persistent requests for clemency have not been granted.
“I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken.
“At this time our thoughts are with Mr Shaikh’s family and friends and I send them our sincere condolences.”
Foreign Secretary David Miliband also condemned the execution.
He said the UK was opposed to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, but also “deeply regretted” that his specific concerns in this case, including “mental health issues, and inadequate professional interpretation” had been ignored.
Conservative leader David Cameron echoed the condemnation, saying he “deplored and deeply regretted” the execution.
“It is appalling that the concerns [about Mr Shaikh's mental health] were not independently assessed during the more than two years [he] was in custody, and taken properly into account in the judicial process,” he said.
The legal charity Reprieve had taken up Mr Shaikh’s case for the family.
Through the charity, the family issued a statement thanking all those who tried to help including Reprieve, the Foreign Office, those who attended a vigil outside the Chinese embassy in London, and the organisers of a Facebook group calling for clemency.
They asked for privacy “as they come to terms with what has happened to someone they loved”.
Katherine O’Shea, Reprieve’s communications director, said it was “devastated” Mr Shaikh had been killed.
“That such a thing can happen in this day and age is really something that should alarm all of us,” she said.
“This guy was a very vulnerable person, extremely ill. He slipped through the cracks of society, and he was frankly failed by China and by their legal system. And it’s an absolute disgrace that he should have been killed.”
In its statement, the Chinese Embassy said Mr Shaikh was convicted of “serious” drug trafficking.
“The amount of heroin he brought into China was 4,030g, enough to cause 26,800 deaths, threatening numerous families,” it said.
It added: “The legal structures of China and UK may be different, but it should not stand in the way of enhancing our bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect.”
BBC world affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge said in the final appeal for clemency before the execution Britain had expressed the hope that its relationship with China would count for something.
“But in the event, its influence has been severely tested in this case,” he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8433285.stm
December 29th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
This is the family statement on the Reprieve website
The website has a case history. I feel so sorry for this guy and his family as well, he was obviously seriously mentally ill.:-
http://www.reprieve.org.uk/akmalshaikh/
December 29th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
I am appalled what has happened here. I suffer from bipolar disorder, and although I have never been as dellusional as Akmal, I know how I have lost contact with reality in the past.
I have no sympathy for drug dealers, as my bother died this year from a Heroine overdose, but the Chinese government deserves nothing but international condemnation for murdering an obviously very sick man!!!
December 29th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Thanks for that comment Rolland, that couldn’t have been easy to say.
December 30th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
A sick man? who wona escape from punishment, mental illness is alwys the case….Do not blind your eyes in the name of mercy, if you ever think of people who are tortured by Drug. die for 4kg Heroine is not worth,but cannot be fooled only because we are mercy?
December 30th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
It has been a terrible injustice, this guy was seriously mentally ill.
December 31st, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Nice try on “mentally ill”, those so called witness has to come up when there are just few hours left, interesting
December 31st, 2009 at 6:53 pm
another thing i noticed is that how can those drug dealer trust so much drugs on a mentally ill man? I believe those drug dealers are quite aware of profit and risk.
December 31st, 2009 at 6:55 pm
sweatpea stfu the guy was playing the fool but hes the full with a 9mm inplanted in his head be warned wannabee drugs barons with fool tryed it and the fool got his payment enjoy your last thoughts Akmal