Top court eyeing Briton's smuggling death penalty

The Supreme People's Court is still reviewing the death sentence handed down to a British citizen found guilty of smuggling heroin into China, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu yesterday.

Ma insisted the rights of Akmal Shaikh had been respected and guaranteed throughout his trial, and said the proceedings fully complied with Chinese law.

Ma was responding to an erroneous BBC report that claimed the death penalty had already been approved by the Supreme People's Court.