Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated “I … 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.”
China insisted that it was just saying no to drugs: “Drug trafficking is a grave crime worldwide. The concerns of the British side have been duly noted and taken into consideration by the Chinese judicial authorities in the legal process, and Mr. Shaikh’s rights and interests under Chinese law are properly respected and guaranteed.”
The executive of 53-year-old is the first European executed in China in 50 years,
On a hopeful note, China noted “[w]e value the China-British relationship. So we hope the British authority can treat this matter rationally and not let it create new barrier between the two countries. I have emphasized that this is an independent criminal case. It has nothing to do with anything else.”
No worries. Even after killing the global warming agreement and countless human rights violations, the U.S. and Europe remain “rationally” blind to such cases. With the U.S. deeply in debt to China and the Obama Administration putting human rights on the back burner (including blocking our own torture investigation), China could have executed Shaikh on the White House lawn and only received a diplomatic expression of concern.
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