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Brown slams decision:
China executes Briton over drugs
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was ‘appalled’ after
China on Tuesday executed a British citizen caught smuggling heroin,
despite pleas from the prisoner’s family that he was mentally unsound.
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Supporters of British national Akmal Shaikh hold a vigil at the
Chinese Embassy in London on December 28, 2009. Shaikh a
53-year-old father-of-three who supporters say suffers from
bipolar disorder, faces execution on December 29 for drug
smuggling after losing his final appeal in China’s Supreme
Court. AFP |
Akmal Shaikh’s relatives and the British Government had appealed for
clemency, arguing the former businessman suffered from bipolar disorder,
also called manic depression.
The Chinese supreme court rejected the appeal saying there was
insufficient evidence of mental illness, and the Chinese Foreign
Ministry said Shaikh had been given all due legal rights.
Brown condemned the execution in strong words that may raise
diplomatic temperatures over the case.
“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”, he said in a statement issued by the British
Foreign Office. “I am particularly concerned that no mental health
assessment was undertaken”.
In London, a British Foreign Office spokesman said Britain had been
informed by Chinese authorities of Shaikh’s execution.
“Nobody has the right to speak ill of China’s judicial sovereignty”,
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.
“We express our strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition over
the groundless British accusations. We urge the British side to mend its
errors and avoid damaging China-British relations”.
Shaikh would be the first European citizen to be executed in China
since 1951, Western rights groups say. China executes more people than
any other country, with about 1,718 executions in 2008 far surpassing
Iran at 346 and the United States at 111.
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Akbar Shaikh, brother of British national Akmal Shaikh, holds a
candle during a vigil at the Chinese Embassy in London on
December 28, 2009. Shaikh a 53-year-old father-of-three who
supporters say suffers from bipolar disorder, faces execution on
December 29 for drug smuggling after losing his final appeal in
China’s Supreme Court. AFP |
Shaikh was still ‘hopeful’ when relatives met him in Urumqi this
weekend, his cousin Soohail Shaikh told reporters at Beijing airport
late on Monday night.
The case could harden public opinion in Britain against China. It
could also rile Chinese resentful over what Beijing often calls
‘interference’ in China’s internal affairs and mindful of humiliating
defeats by Britain during the Opium Wars.
“We hope that the British side can view this matter rationally, and
not create new obstacles in bilateral relations. This is an isolated
criminal case unrelated to other matters”, Jiang said. Britain is
China’s third-largest trade partner in Europe, with total trade of $45
billion in 2008. The two countries recently traded accusations over the
troubled Copenhagen climate change negotiations.
Heroin use is a major problem in Xinjiang, which borders Central
Asia. The region was convulsed by ethnic violence and protests in July,
with further protests in September after widespread panic over alleged
syringe attacks.
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Britain on December 28, 2009 urged China to “do the right thing”
in a last-minute appeal to halt the execution of a British
national on death row for drug smuggling. Foreign Office
minister Ivan Lewis called on China to show clemency for Akmal
Shaikh, who faces the death penalty on December 29, 2009, saying
it was “not appropriate” to execute someone with a mental
illness. AFP |
All executions in Urumqi have used lethal injections in recent years,
said a detention center official surnamed Jia.
Shaikh’s defenders, including British rights group Reprieve which
lobbies against the death penalty, say he was tricked into smuggling the
heroin by a gang who promised to make him a pop star. Arrested in 2007,
a Chinese court rejected his final appeal on December 21.
Reprieve posted on the Internet a recording Shaikh made of a song,
‘Come Little Rabbit’, which it described as ‘dreadful’ but which Shaikh
believed would be an international hit and help bring about world peace.
“This is not about how much we hate the drug trade. Britain as well
as China are completely committed to take it on”, the British Foreign
Secretary, David Miliband, said in a statement emailed to reporters.
“The issue is whether Mr Shaikh has become an additional victim of it”.
Reuters
(Additional reporting by K.J. Kwon; Writing by
Lucy Hornby and Chris Buckley, Editing by Dean Yates) |
