Briton executed in China for drug trafficking

The family of a British national have returned home to the UK after China carried out an execution on him for smuggling heroin into the country. There has been many appeals in court that were turned down by the Chinese Government and pleas from their British counterparts for clemency on the grounds that the man was not mentally fit and did not understand his actions.

Akmal Shaikh was killed on Tuesday morning by lethal injection after he tried to smuggle heroin into the country. His family have said that he has a mental illness, thought to be bipolar, and was tricked into carrying the drugs by someone else. Some of Mr Shaikh family members had flown out to China to try and reason with authorities and have an assessment done on his mental health, but they refused.

The execution of the Akmal Shaikh has caused a war of words between the two countires and Prime Minister Gordon Brown had even phoned his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, to ask him to step in and halt the execution. After the lethal injection had taken place, Gordon Brown said how disappointed he was that China had not granted clemency.

Chinese officials have struck back, saying that there was no previous history of mental illness with Mr Akmal Shaikh. They also warned the UK not to interfere with judicial affairs of China after the UK ambassador from China was summoned to explain the actions of China.