Britain condemns execution in China in strongest terms (2nd Lead)

Dec 29, 2009, 6:28 GMT

Beijing/London - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Tuesday condemned 'in the strongest terms' the execution of a British citizen in China on drug smuggling charges despite last-minute appeals for clemency at the highest level.

Akmal Shaikh, 53, from London, was executed at 10:30 am (0230 GMT) Tuesday in Urumqi, in China's western region of Xinjiang, the British embassy in Beijing confirmed.

It was the first execution of a European national in China in 50 years. The case had attracted special attention as Shaikh was said to have mental health problems, according to his family and human rights campaigners.

'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. I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken,' Brown said in a statement released in London.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband also condemned the move. He said Britain was 'completely opposed to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances.'

The government in London said it had made a total of 27 pleas on behalf of Shaikh, the last coming late Monday when Foreign Office minister Ivan Lewis met in London with Chinese Ambassador Fu Ying and spoke to his counterpart in the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

It was 'not appropriate in the modern world' to put a man with a mental illness to death, Lewis was reported as telling the Chinese officials.

Campaigners staged an all-night vigil outside the Chinese embassy in London to plead for clemency as the family expressed their sadness at the Chinese decision.

'The family express their grief at the Chinese decision to refuse mercy; thank all those who tried hard to bring about a different result,' Shaikh's relatives said in a statement released after the execution by Reprieve, a British rights group.

The father of three was arrested in September 2007 and convicted of trafficking 4 kilograms of heroin in November 2008.

His family and campaigners say he is suffering from bipolar disorder, a mental illness, and was duped by a drug gang into smuggling the heroin.

Shortly before the execution, the supreme court in Beijing confirmed the decision.

'His behaviour constituted the crime of drug smuggling and the crime committed was extremely serious,' the Supreme People's Court said, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The number of people executed in China is not made public.

According to Amnesty International's latest annual report on the death penalty, at least 7,000 death sentences were handed down in China in 2008, with 1,700 executions having been carried out.

China accounted for 72 per cent of the world's executions - far more than any other country, an Amnesty spokesman said.