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Top court eyeing Briton's smuggling death penalty
By Wang Jingqiong and Zhang Xin (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-14 07:56 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. The defendant's lawyers are demanding that the sentence be revoked, alleging that the court failed to consider Shaikh's alleged mental illness. Ma pointed out that the Supreme People's Court is reviewing the death sentence, which has been normal procedure since 2007.
Shaikh, 53, from north London, was arrested on Sept 12, 2007, at an airport in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. He was carrying a suitcase containing 4 kg of heroin, valued at $395,500. Shaikh was sentenced to death on Oct 29, 2008, at the No 1 Intermediate People's Court of Urumqi. Last May, Shaikh's appeal to the Higher People's Court of Xinjiang was rejected. If he is put to death, he will become the first British citizen to be executed in China, according to a Guardian report yesterday. The British embassy in Beijing was quoted by The Guardian as saying that it strongly opposed the death sentence and had made strong representations to the Foreign Ministry. "The court hired interpreters for him," said Ma. "Both the defendant and his lawyer participated fully in defending his rights." As for the allegation that the court refused to take Shaikh's mental condition into consideration, Ma said there was insufficient evidence to show he had a mental illness. "Besides, Shaikh also said his family and he himself had no record of mental illness." The Supreme People's Court did not comment on the case. (China Daily 10/14/2009 page1) |
