China downplays execution

• Source: Global Times
• [04:07 December 30 2009]
• Comments

Akmal Shaikh

By Qiu Wei

Authorities Tuesday urged Downing Street to treat the execution of a British national for drug trafficking – the first European given the death penalty on Chinese soil in 50 years – "rationally," saying the sentence was appropriate and should not hurt ties with Britain.

Akmal Shaikh, 53, was executed by lethal injection Tuesday morning in Urumqi, regional capital of northwestern Xinjiang Province, after the death sentence was approved by the Supreme People's Court (SPC), according to the Xinhua News Agency.

C h i n a ' s foreign ministry expressed its "strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition" to Britain's reaction toward its handling of the drug smuggler.

"We hope the British side can treat the case rationally, and not create new obstacles to bilateral relations," ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said Tuesday.

Jiang said the case was an individual criminal case, and Chinese judicial authorities had handled it independently in accordance with the law and legal procedures, and that China's judicial independence does not brook foreign interference.

As last-ditch appeals for clemency failed, the British government sharpened its tone to condemn the execution of Shaikh Tuesday.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in an online statement that he was "appalled and disappointed that our persistent requests for clemency have not been granted."

"I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken," he said.

The European Union expressed regret that Beijing had ignored calls for Shaikh's sentence to be commuted.

"The European Union condemns in the strongest terms the execution of Akmal Shaikh," said a statement issued by Sweden, which holds the EU's rotating presidency until the end of the year.

The EU also affirmed its longstanding opposition to the death penalty.

The Supreme People's Court said in a statement Tuesday that the defendant's litigation rights had been "fully granted in custody and in his trial."

British diplomats in China and a British human rights organization had proposed a mental illness assessment for Shaikh, but the documents they provided could not prove he had a mental disorder nor did members of his family have a history of mental illness, the SPC said.