China Executes British Drug Smuggler Despite Outcry

A 53-year-old British man convicted of drug smuggling was executed in China early Tuesday, despite pleas for clemency from his family, human rights groups, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the New York Times reports. According to family members, Akmal Shaikh had a history of mental illness before he was caught carrying a suitcase containing 8.3 pounds of heroin into China in 2007.

"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," Brown said in a statement. "I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken."

Another British official added that the U.K. "is completely opposed to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances."

Members of the British government had pleaded with the Supreme People's Court, the highest court in China, to have Shaikh medically examined and to accept documents explaining his mental condition. Two of Shaikh's cousins visited him in prison this year and made a last-minute plea for clemency. The Chinese court rejected the evidence provided, saying it did not prove any mental disturbance.

An English-language report from Xinhua, China's state-controlled news agency, bristled against any suggestion that the execution highlighted the regime's heavily criticized human rights record.

"According to China's Criminal Law, the death sentence given to him is legitimate and it has nothing to do with human rights concerns," Wang Mingliang, professor of criminal law at Shanghai-based Fudan University, told Xinhua.