China ignores appeals,executes Briton in drugs case

Brown released a statement shortly after the announcement on Tuesday,saying he condemned the execution “in the strongest terms” and that he was “appalled” the court did not grant the man clemency. British officials had pressed the Chinese courts to consider Shaikh’s history of mental disturbance and to allow an independent evaluation of his psychiatric state. But China’s highest court rejected a last-minute appeal from the man’s family.

Shaikh’s case had drawn international concern. Rights groups said Shaikh,a former London minicab driver,was the first European to be executed in China in more than 50 years.

On Tuesday,China’s state-run news media blamed Western news outlets for “politicising” the execution and said government officials had determined that there was insufficient evidence that Shaikh had suffered from mental problems. The execution came just days after China sentenced Liu Xiaobo,one of the country’s best-known dissidents,to 11 years in prison for subversion.

The execution of Shaikh brought to a close a case that initially went to trial in 2008,when Shaikh was sentenced to death after the court met for just 30 minutes in Urumqi,the capital of Xinjiang.

China’s drug trafficking laws are harsh and its criminal justice system carried out about 1,700 executions last year.

Shaikh was born in Pakistan and moved to Britain at age 11. Family members said he had a long history of mental problems and had been duped into carrying the suitcase. He left for China in 2007,they said,with delusional thoughts of starting a career as a pop singer.