Topic: China execute mentally disturbed person...

[Pugnate]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8435413.stm

If you guys have been following this case over the months, British celebs like Stephen Fry have been appealing for his life. He was executed yesterday... and there is a press conference in that link you should watch.

Beijing says Mr Shaikh was caught with more than 4kg of heroin in the north-western city of Urumqi in 2007.

He had denied all knowledge of the drugs, and his daughter had said drug smugglers in Poland convinced him they would make him a popstar in China.

The legal charity Reprieve has said a report from a consultant forensic psychologist diagnosed Mr Shaikh with bipolar disorder and delusional psychosis.

The Shaikh family also said it was "particularly distasteful" that judges at an appeal hearing laughed openly at Akmal's rambling speech as he pleaded for his life.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8433704.stm

The Chinese ambassador Fu Ying has been summoned to the Foreign Office amid a growing row between the UK and China over the execution of a British man.

Akmal Shaikh, 53, a father-of-three from London, was executed in China after being convicted of drug smuggling despite claims he was mentally ill.

Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis told the ambassador "China had failed in its basic human rights responsibilities".

Mr Lewis said after the meeting: "I had a difficult conversation with the Chinese Ambassador today.

Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis: 'Mr Shaikh had mental health problems'

"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.

Sally Rowen, of the legal charity Reprieve, said a report from a consultant forensic psychologist had diagnosed him with bipolar disorder and delusional psychosis.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was "appalled" at the execution. However, China warned criticism of the case would harm UK-China relations.

Mr Shaikh's cousins Soohail and Nasir Shaikh, who travelled to China to visit him in prison and make a last-minute plea for clemency, said they were "deeply saddened, stunned and disappointed" by the execution.

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."

His daughter Leilla Horsnell added: "I am shocked and disappointed that the execution went ahead with no regards to my dad's mental health problems, and I struggle to understand how this is justice."

[nickclone]

I thought China was coming into the 21st century? What kind of backwards ass country executes someone for a non violent crime, let alone a mentally ill person?

[iPPi]

It's China... they don't care about human rights.  You break the law (and drug smuggling is probably #1 or #2 in the laws not to break), you die regardless of any extenuating circumstances.

[Pugnate]

I mean in all honesty, this could all be a front. Akmal provided no documentation of such diagnosis, so this could have been some sort of a defense strategy. Though I am not sure if an independent charity legal organization would have been in on the lying.

I am just disturbed that the man didn't get a fair trial.

[iPPi]

I did a little more reading into this and yea, it appears that the EU was just pushing for clemency, but don't provide any evidence that he does indeed have a mental disorder.

[Quemaqua]

I do think mental disorders are too often used as cop outs, but yeah.... that's China for you.  Death to everybody.  Why in the world did you think they were coming into the 21st century, nick?  I'm pretty sure they're still working on the 19th, except for the stuff with technology and weapons.