A British man has been sentenced to death in China for drug smuggling. Despite appeals against his sentence the 52-year-old Akmal Shaikh is scheduled to be executed next week.

The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown has asked the Chinese authorities to spare Mr Shaikh. The British Foreign Office says it will renew its calls for clemency.

Mr Shaikh is said to suffer from a bipolar disorder. He was arrested two years ago in the north-western Chinese city of Urumqi, in possession of four kilos of heroin. The international human rights organisation Reprieve says it has evidence he was tricked into smuggling the drugs by a criminal gang. Reprieve says he was under the delusion that once in China he would record a hit single that would usher in world peace. 

If the death penalty is carried out, Reprieve says Mr Shaikh would become the first national from a European Union country to be executed in China in 50 years.

Photo of Urumqi by giladr (flickr)