China urged to reprieve "mentally ill" death-row Briton (News Feature)

By Bill Smith Oct 16, 2009, 12:20 GMT

   Beijing - A prisoners' rights group Friday urged China to allow a psychological evaluation of a British man sentenced to death for heroin trafficking, insisting that he was mentally ill and duped into carrying drugs into the country.

   China's Supreme People's Court is in the process of reviewing the death sentence against Akmal Shaikh, who was caught with 4 kilograms of heroin in a suitcase when he arrived in the far western city of Urumqi in September 2007.

   Shaikh, 53, flew to Urumqi from Kyrgyzstan via Tajikistan after friends in Poland told him they could help him launch a career as a singer in China, according to the London-based prisoners' rights group Reprieve.

   Reprieve said it had 'strong evidence that he is seriously mentally ill, most likely suffering from bi-polar disorder' and had 'a lifelong history of erratic and bizarre behaviour.'

   Through lawyers and British officials, the group tried to persuade Chinese courts to allow doctors to evaluate Shaikh's mental state.

   But two courts ignored the calls and Shaikh was sentenced to death in November. A recent appeal was also rejected, meaning that he could be executed if the Supreme People's Court, China's final arbiter for death sentences, upholds the earlier decisions.

   Shaikh's team had asked again for a psychiatric evaluation and was 'pretty confident' that Shaikh could be reprieved if it was allowed, Reprieve press officer Katherine O'Shea told the German Press Agency dpa.

   'We've got a psychiatric report, which is what we're trying to submit,' O'Shea said. 'We are working with Akmal's lawyer, who's going to represent him in the Supreme People's Court,' she said.

   China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs appeared unsympathetic to Reprieve's campaign this week.

   Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Tuesday the procedures in Shaikh's case were all 'in line with Chinese law.'

   Ma said the British embassy had proposed a psychiatric examination but 'did not offer any proof' of Shaikh's mental state.

   'The defendant said he and his family have no history of mental illness,' Ma told reporters.

   Following Ma's comments, Reprieve director Clive Stafford-Smith wrote to Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, asking him to allow London-based consultant psychologist Dr Peter Schaapveld to visit Shaikh 'so that he can conduct a full evaluation and report back to the Chinese courts.'

   In a copy of the letter seen on Friday, Stafford-Smith said he had attached a report by Schaapveld.

   'This is based on dozens of emails sent by Mr Shaikh that clearly illustrate his delusional state of mind, as well as the testimonies of his family and his former British lawyer,' Stafford-Smith said. 'It is clearly strong evidence of his mental problems.'

   Comedian Stephen Fry and several British politicians issued statements of support for Shaikh via Reprieve.

   'Suffering as I do from bipolar disorder, albeit in a much milder form than Akmal Shaikh, this case struck me as being very important for the world to be aware of,' Fry said.

   'The basic principle ... we understand, I hope if we have an ounce of humanity, is that some people do things under delusions,' he said.

   Shaikh's brother Akbar also appealed to China not to execute him.

   'My brother Akmal has struggled for many years with what we now know to be a serious mental illness,' Akbar Shaikh said.

   'We are all very worried for Akmal's safety as we know he is unable to defend himself properly,' he said. 'We are praying that the Chinese courts will see that he is not of sound mind, and prevent his execution.'

   Yet most Chinese experts and commentators quoted by state media were unimpressed with the calls for clemency.

   Huang Jingping, an expert in criminal law at People's University in Beijing, said family medical history was 'important evidence in judging if a person had mental problems, among other key factors such as the judicial judgement based on the suspect's behaviour and his motives and ability to commit the crime.'

   'The courts must have made careful judgments if the initial verdict was upheld after more than one appeal,' the official Xinhua news agency on Friday quoted Huang as saying.

   The agency pointed out that China's criminal law allowed the death sentence for anyone convicted of trafficking more than 50 grams of heroin.

   China has reported several executions of foreigners convicted of drug trafficking. Most of those executed were citizens of neighbouring Asian countries such as Myanmar and Taiwan.

   Law expert Wang Zhenmin told Xinhua that 'suspects who commit crimes on China's territory should be subject to the jurisdiction of Chinese law.'

   'Only evidence of mental instability could get Shaikh a reprieve from capital punishment,' Wang said. 'And the judgment should be made based on Chinese jurisdictional assessments, not on subjective opinions.'

   O'Shea said Reprieve was only requesting a procedure allowed under Chinese law.

   'We're not asking for anything which is actually outside Chinese law,' she said.