Worldwide pleas for Akmal Shaikh were not able to prevent yesterday's execution by Chinese authorities of a 53-year-old Brit, Akmal Shaikh, for drug trafficking. He is widely reported to be the first national from a European Union country to be executed in China in 58 years.

Updated on: 30 December 2009

Shaikh was arrested in 2007 in the West-Chinese province of Xinjiang, carrying 4 kilos of heroin in his suitcase. In China, being caught in possession of fifty grams of the drug can result in a death sentence.
 

But according to Shaik’s supporters this was not a case of ordinary drug trafficking for profit. Psychologists in England say he suffered from bipolar disorder or schizophrenia and could therefore not be held accountable for his actions.
 

Come little rabbit
How did Shaikh, owner of a cab firm in London and father of three, end up in a Chinese prison? According to The Guardian newspaper, he went off the rails after his divorce. In 2005, Shaikh suddenly left England for Poland, where he planned to set up an airline. He ended up on the streets of the Warsaw instead, telling everyone he wanted to become a pop star. He said his song, 'Come little rabbit', would bring about world peace.
Pakistan-born Shaikh bombarded British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, singer Paul McCartney and more than seventy other prominent figures with e-mails, announcing his plan to save the world.
 

British prisoners’ rights organisation Reprievesays these e-mails show how Shaikh’s mental instability made him an easy target. Shaikh wrote that he would travel to a studio in Central Asia to record his song. 'Friends' had taken care of that. The same 'friends' introduced him to the owner of a night club, who offered to organise Shaikh’s first performance in China.
 

Shaikh said that right before the flight from Tajikistan to China, his friends were suddenlyunable to go. They told him to go first - and take along a suitcase. He was arrested on arrival at the Urumqi airport on September 12th 2007.

At his first trial, it took the judge half-an-hour to sentence him to death.

Death sentence
Under China's criminal code, punishments can be reduced or nullified if criminals are unable to recognise or control their misconduct. But the issue never came up during Shaikh's initial half-hour trial. During his second trial, although judges reportedly laughed at his erratic 50-minute speech, they refused requests by UK consulate-appointed lawyers for a psychological evaluation. By the time this became an issue, Shaikh’ s case may have become too high-profile for the authorities to adjust their stance without looking like they were backing down.

The question why the Chinese judges did not accept requests by the defence that Shaikh be mentally examined will most likely be the most damaging to relations between China and the UK.
 

Image and secrecy
In yesterday’s issue of the national newspaper China Daily, Chinese criminologists state that Shaikh himself told the court that neither he, nor anyone else in his family had any record of mental problems. The Chinese Supreme Court agreed to an assessment of his mental health during an appeal earlier this month, the China Daily reports, but the results apparently failed to persuade the court towards leniency. Chinese authorities rejected Shaikh family's request for a second examination.
Two important concerns remain. First of all, in the Chinese judicial system deliberations are carried out behind closed doors so it’s therefore not known whether Shaikh's condition was badequately considered. Secondly, although Chinese courts describe themselves as independent, they are in fact controlled by the Communist Party.
 

China's reaction
China has not given an inch. A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry told a press briefing in Beijing: "No one has the right to comment on China's judicial sovereignty. It is the common wish of people around the world to strike against the crime of drug trafficking. We express our strong dissatisfaction and opposition to the British government's unreasonable criticism of the case. We urge the British to correct their mistake in order to avoid harming China-UK relations."

The country insists it was fair and humane to execute a British man despite concerns about his psychiatric condition.

Officials in Beijing said the UK had no right to meddle in the case of the convicted drug smuggler Akmal Shaikh and warned that "unreasonable criticism" could harm relations between the two countries. The Chinese government has cancelled an annual meeting between the two countries, scheduled for January in Beijing to discuss human rights.
 

Gordon Brown had declared in a written statement on the British Foreign Office website that Shaikh’s mental condition was not evaluated and that he is "appalled and disappointed" by the execution.

Drug trafficking is a sore subject in China and the country is waging a permanent war on drugs.The country suffered great losses during the Opium War (1839 -1842), when the British colonialists tried to forcefully open China to foreign trade. When the Qing Emperor refused, the Brits flooded China with cheap opium. The defeat of the Qing Dynasty, the opium addiction of millions of people and the way in which Western colonial powers appropriated China's best ports is still seen as a national defeat. And these days, the country is vulnerable to smuggling because it borders two of the world's largest heroin producers - Afghanistan and Burma.