Akmal Shaikh: First European Citizen Executed by China in Half a Century

China has executed Akmal Shaikh, a British citizen, who was convicted of drug smuggling almost nine pounds, or four kilograms, of heroin into China in 2007, on a flight from Tajikistan. This was the first execution of a European citizen in a half a century in China and has drawn a strong condemnation from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Shaikh, according to London-based prisoner advocacy group Reprieve, told Chinese officials he didn't know about the drugs and that the suitcase wasn't his. Relatives of the man said he was mentally unstable and was unwittingly lured into the crime.

Akmal Shaikh (Reprieve)

What's equally disturbing in this case is that the appeals of PM Gordon Brown were flatly ignored by the Chinese government. It's a wake-up call to other citizens of the United States and the United Kingdom who find themselves in foreign prisons, that their governments may not be able to win their release, especially from countries that are hostile towards them. It is equally troubling, that if Shaikh had mental issues, that the Chinese government did not provide a mental health assessment for the accused to ascertain whether he had a diminished capacity or not.

China has defended the handling of Shaikh's case, saying he received a fair trial. "Drug smuggling is a grave crime. The rights of the defendant have been fully guaranteed," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a news conference last week.

According to media reports, Shaikh, who was executed Tuesday, first learned of his death sentence Monday from his visiting cousins, who made a last-minute plea for his life. They said he was lured to China from a life on the street in Poland by men playing on his dreams to record a pop song for world peace. He was reportedly convicted in 2008 after a half-hour trial. In one court appearance during his trial and appeal process, the judges reportedly laughed at his rambling remarks. Wow, so much for a relationship of trust and mutual respect from the Chinese government. Besides, anyone who would take a suitcase with drugs into China is either mentally unstable or daring.

It goes without saying that this news is being downplayed in the mainstream media and it goes to the fact that there are real problems in the United States with our justice system, though no accused would ever get a 30 minute trial. It also points to the fact that a new world order may be in play here.