China Set To Execute Mentally Ill British Man for Drug Smuggling

China is moving forward with the execution of a mentally ill British man for trafficking drugs. The British government has been protesting the treatment of Akmal Shaikh, whose family insists that he was duped into going to China by promises of becoming a singer and star. A Chinese gang used him to smuggle drugs.

The Chinese court would not consider the evidence that Shaikh, 53, is bipolar.

He insisted that he was unaware of the 4kg of heroin found with him in 2007. If executed, he would be the first EU national executed in China in 50 years.

In 2008, China executed 1,718 people and last year 72% of the world’s total executions took place in China — including for non-violent offenses.

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