Gordon Brown leads furious outcry as China executes British drugs mule by lethal injection

Gordon Brown condemns execution in 'strongest terms'

Defiant China claim 'no one has right' to comment on its judicial sovereignty

Father-of-five buried immediately after death by lethal injection



Family say they are 'deeply saddened, stunned and disappointed'

An ‘appalled and disappointed’ Gordon Brown led condemnation of the Chinese execution of British drug smuggler Akmal Shaikh.

The Chinese authorities killed the 53-year-old father of five by lethal injection early yesterday, ignoring last minute pleas from his family and the British Government.

There was cross-party anger at the execution of Mr Shaikh, who had mental problems.

No reprieve: Akmal Shaikh pictured in 1998 in the offices of the North London cab firm that he managed

Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis declared that it made him feel ‘sick to the stomach’, while Conservative leader David Cameron said: ‘I deplore and deeply regret the fact that the Chinese authorities did not heed the pleas for clemency.’

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.

Anger: Gordon Brown attacked Mr Shaikh's execution in the 'strongest' terms

‘I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken.’

Mr Shaikh, from Kentish Town, North London, was arrested in Urumqi, North-West China, in September 2007, and convicted of smuggling 4kg (8lb 13oz) of heroin into the country.

His family say he suffered from bipolar disorder. They claim he had been delusional and was duped into carrying a suitcase that did not belong to him into China.

His daughter has said that drug smugglers in Poland convinced him they would make him a pop star in China.

Mr Shaikh, who used to manage a cab firm in Kentish Town, had denied any wrongdoing.

His family said they were ‘deeply saddened, stunned and disappointed’ by the execution, which was carried out in Urumqi.

Mr Shaikh was the first EU national to be executed in China since 1951. The row culminated last night in a ‘difficult’ meeting between Mr Lewis and China’s ambassador, Fu Ying.

She was summoned to the Foreign Office to explain her country’s action after the Chinese Embassy in London issued a statement insisting Mr Shaikh’s rights and interests had been ‘properly respected’.

Emerging from the meeting, Mr Lewis said: ‘I made clear that the execution of Mr Shaikh was totally unacceptable and that China had failed in its basic human rights responsibilities in this case, in particular that China’s court had not considered the representations made about Mr Shaikh’s mental condition.’

Death prison: Shaikh was held and executed at Xishan detention centre in western China's Urumqi province

Summoned: The Chinese ambassador in London Fu Ying (back seat) leaves the Foreign Office after being ordered to explain her country's actions

Mr Lewis, who made a last ditch appeal for clemency on Monday night, said 27 representations had been made at ministerial level on Mr Shaikh’s behalf to the Chinese authorities.

He said: ‘It is a deeply distressing day for anyone with a modicum of compassion or commitment to justice in Britain and throughout the world.

‘It is true he was found guilty of a serious crime, but it is equally clear that he had serious mental health problems and the unwillingness of the Chinese courts to take account of this and request a proper medical assessment is reprehensible.’

Mr Lewis said Britain has an ‘important relationship’ with China. But he added: ‘China needs to understand it will only ever achieve full respect around the world when it subscribes to basic standards of human rights.’

Clearly angered by the stinging criticisms, however, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Jiang Yu hit back: ‘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 Chinese Embassy in London said: ‘The amount of heroin he [Mr Shaikh] brought into China was enough to cause 26,800 deaths, threatening numerous families.’

It also insisted that Mr Shaikh had ‘no previous medical record’ of mental illness.

The Chinese insist the use of the death penalty in their war on drugs is working and that drug use is falling as a result.

Last year alone more than 200 people involved in the drug trade were executed.

Mr Shaikh’s cousins, brothers Suhail and Nasir Shaikh, had travelled to China to see him in prison and to make a final plea for his life.

In a statement, they said : ‘We are astonished at suggestions that Akmal himself should have provided evidence of his own fragile state of mind.

‘We find it ludicrous that any mentally ill person should be expected to provide this, especially when this was apparently bipolar disorder, in which we understand the sufferer has a distorted view of the world, including his own condition.’

CHINA'S DEADLY RECORD China accounts for nearly three quarters of the world's executions every year, according to human rights campaigners. Figures from Amnesty International show a minimum of 7,000 death sentences were handed down in China in 2008, with 1,700 executions taking place. Amnesty International said the Chinese authorities refused to make public national statistics on death sentences and executions and the real figure was 'undoubtedly higher'. Steve Ballinger, a spokesman for Amnesty International, said: 'China accounts for 72% of the world's executions and China executes far more than any other country by an awfully long way.' Under Chinese criminal law, a mental patient who commits a crime, and has not completely lost the ability to recognise or control his own conduct at the time, still has criminal responsibility but may be given a lighter punishment. Mr Ballinger said Amnesty, which campaigns against the use of the death penalty, was concerned that trials in China fall below international fair trial standards. He said Akmal Shaikh was 'very unlikely' to have received a fair trial. Other areas of concern to Amnesty in China include restrictions on freedom of expression, and the frequent use of torture in custody - although he said there was no evidence that Shaikh had suffered this. Although there was still a 'long way to go', he said there had been some gradual improvement, with China earlier this year stating that the Supreme People's Court had to review all death penalty cases. According to Amnesty International, the Chinese authorities stated their intention in 2008 to increase the use of lethal injection as a 'more humane' method of execution than firing squad. The organisation said China voted in December 2008 against a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions.

Reprieve's legal director Sally Rowen had described Mr Shaikh as a 'gentle man who suffering from a tormenting illness.



'He fell through the cracks... as many people with mental illness do,' she added.



Mr Shaikh's case attracted support from mental health campaigners as well as those opposed to the death penalty.

'At this time our thoughts are with Mr Shaikh's family and friends and I send them our sincere condolences.'

Robert Westhead, spokesman for MDF, the Bipolar Organisation, described the execution as 'medieval rough justice' and an 'absolute tragedy'.



'How a society treats people affected by mental illness is always a good indicator of how civilised it is.



'The way the Chinese authorities have stubbornly failed to take account of this poor man's severe mental illness shows that China is still stuck in the dark ages.



'This execution is medieval rough justice gone badly wrong.'

Mr Shaikh's cousins visited him in jail for the last time yesterday.



Speaking exclusively to the Mail, Suhail said: ‘Akmal had lost some weight but he was in high spirits when we first met him because he still believed he could appeal one more time and have his sentence overturned and be saved.



‘He did not know a date had been set for his execution, and he said he was still waiting for an imminent change of heart from the Chinese who would overturn his death sentence and pardon him.’



'We had to break the news to him and tell him that he was to be executed within 24 hours.



‘He did not seem to believe us but we told him the final decision had been passed, and that we had done all we could as a tight-knit, heartbroken family to save him.



‘It was apparent to us that he was suffering from a mental illness. The things he was saying were not the things you’d expect a normal person facing the death sentence to say.



'He was a little tearful at the end. He said he appreciated us being there. We had to be strong for him. We said we had not given up hope.’



The brothers looked solemn as they emerged from the prison hospital into falling snow. They were carrying Mr Shaikh's personal effects in a plastic bag.



Charge: Mr Shaikh was arrested in Urumqi in September 2007 and charged with smuggling almost 9lbs of heroin

Supporters of British national Akmal Shaikh hold a vigil at the Chinese Embassy in London

As night fell in London, supporters held a candlelit vigil outside the Chinese embassy.



Tom Scott, a freelance theatre director from Catford, said he had become aware of the case through a Facebook group called Stop the Execution of Akmal Shaikh.



He said: 'I am appalled by this case. I am against the death penalty any way in all circumstances but I think this is a particularly bad case - where a man who from all reports, clearly is mentally ill and suffers from delusions was duped by a drugs gang into taking a case which contained heroin into China.

Maya Farr, an 18-year-old customer services representative was also present at the vigil. She said 1,600 people had signalled their support for the Facebook campaign.



'I am personally against the death penalty, but there are so many aspects to this case which we are really opposed to. His mental history has not been assessed.'



Soohail Shaikh, left, and Nasir Shaikh, cousins of Akmal Shaikh, pictured together this morning in a street in Urumqi where the Briton was held

Reprieve said new witnesses had emerged following publicity about the case who backed up the defence claim about his mental illness.



Mr Shaikh was obsessed with recording a song that would usher in world peace, the organisation said.



Two British men, Paul Newberry and Gareth Saunders, both quoted by the organisation, said they had helped Mr Shaikh record a song in Poland and that it was clear that he was mentally ill.



Mr Newberry, a British national who lives in Poland, told Reprieve that Mr Shaikh was a 'very, very ill' person.



He said in a statement issued by the organisation: 'I was probably one of the last people who saw Akmal before he left Poland in August 2007.



'I met Akmal in spring 2007 when he started hanging around the tent city that protesting nurses had set up outside the Polish prime minister's offices in Warsaw. The protest attracted a range of 'colourful' characters and he was one of them.



'As I was British and was with a British friend, Akmal latched on to us. Immediately it was clear that he was mentally ill, although he was a very likeable person, friendly and very open.



'However, he was clearly suffering from delusions and it seemed to me he was a particularly severe case of manic depressive.



'I told him a number of times that he should see a doctor, that he was ill, but he just laughed.

'Any person would have been offended had he been a normal person not in the middle of a psychosis.'



He said Mr Shaikh had shown them lyrics to the song 'Run Little Rabbit' written on a paper napkin and tried to convince them it would be a hit.



He said: 'For a few weeks he pestered us until finally we agreed to record it with him.



'I have no idea who paid for the recording studio but I think he used his charm and persistence to persuade the owner to let him record the song.



'I can't imagine anyone singing worse than he did on that recording and we told him so, but he was on such a high, convinced that he would have a huge hit.



'We told him that he was crazy, that it was the worst thing we had ever heard, but he just laughed in our face and repeated that it would be huge.'







China, where you can be shot for tax evasion



China executes four times as many people as the rest of the world put together, writes GEOFFREY WANSELL.

The exact toll is a closely-guarded 'state secret', but estimates range from more than 1,700 to as high as 10,000 a year. At least 60 per cent of public executions are carried out with a single gunshot to the back of the head.

No fewer than 68 crimes are punishable by death in China, including tax evasion, fraud and bribery.

An estimated 90 per cent of the Chinese population support the death penalty, despite the brutality involved.

Authorities also go to great lengths to ensure the killing goes smoothly, with no danger of a doomed prisoner suddenly haranguing the crowd about the unfairness of his trial.

Merciless: A convicted prisoner is led out onto an army parade ground and killed by a soldier with a single shot

One female prisoner is known to have had her vocal cords cut before she was led out to be killed. But the horror of a Chinese execution does not end with death.

The relatives of the victim may well be offered the bullet that killed their loved one, and then charged the 30p it cost.

They will be also refused access to the corpse. The gruesome explanation for this is that many execution victims have their organs 'harvested' by hospital staff on the orders of police and judges supervising the executions.

The Chinese Government insists officially that such harvesting is entirely illegal, but it is still big business. A heart or liver can fetch as much as £30,000 on the black market.

There are also persistent reports that high-ranking officials who may be in need of an organ transplant make their needs known to the executing officials in their area, who make sure their demands are satisfied.

It is one reason why the Chinese still prefer to use a gunshot to the head – for the damage to the body is far less than it would be from a conventional firing squad. Indeed China's refusal to give outsiders access to the bodies of executed prisoners has increased the suspicion that this is why they are not given to the relatives.

After the 'harvesting', the corpses are usually driven to a crematorium and burned before anyone can view them.

Amnesty International said in a report in 2006 that the huge profits from the sale of prisoners' organs could be part of the reason China refuses to consider doing away with the death penalty.

But author and China expert Jonathan Mirsky says: 'The Chinese do not like to be told what to do by anyone in the outside world. They don't like outside interference – and they show that by not yielding to international pressure, no matter how intense'.

Amnesty also told the Daily Mail yesterday: 'We have serious concerns about whether anyone who has been convicted and sentenced to death has had a fair trial.'

What is not in doubt is that there is a brutal tradition of execution in China – notably in the notorious 'death by a thousand cuts', a form of torture that was finally outlawed only in 1905.

The condemned person was killed by using a knife to methodically remove parts of the body over an extended period.