URUMQI, China: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was appalled at China’s execution of a Briton caught smuggling heroin on Tuesday, prompting China to denounce British “accusations” and defend its court system.
Relatives of Akmal Shaikh, 53, the British government and the European Union had appealed for clemency, arguing the former businessman suffered from bipolar disorder, or manic depression. China’s Supreme Court rejected the appeal, saying there was insufficient evidence of mental illness.
Brown condemned the execution, carried out in the far-west region of Xinjiang, in strong words that may raise diplomatic temperatures over the case.
“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,” he said in a statement issued by the British Foreign Office.
“I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken.” The European Union echoed the British prime minister’s words. “It deeply regrets the fact that China has not heeded the repeated calls by the European Union and one of its member states for the death sentence passed against Shaikh to be commuted,” the presidency of the bloc said.
China was just as determined in its defense of the execution. “Nobody has the right to speak ill of China’s judicial sovereignty,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said. “We express our strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition over the groundless British accusations.”
Shaikh was executed by injection, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported. His family said it was “stunned and disappointed” and criticized China’s stance on his mental health. “We are astonished at suggestions that Akmal himself should have provided evidence of his own fragile state of mind,” they said in a statement. The case could harden public opinion in Britain against China. It could also rile Chinese resentment over what Beijing often calls “interference” in its internal affairs, mindful of humiliating defeats by Britain during the Opium Wars of the 1800s.
“We hope that the British side can view this matter rationally, and not create new obstacles in bilateral relations,” Jiang said.
“This is not about how much we hate the drug trade. Britain as well as China are completely committed to take it on,” British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said. “The issue is whether Shaikh has become an additional victim of it.”
