British man to be exectuted by Chinese

magick · 27 Dec 2009 at 11:00

Ok so on a few other forums I goto some christians and bleeding heart liberals are on a crusade to get Akmal Shaikh spared the death penalty after he got caught smuggling 4kg of heroin into China.

Now I would have thought this story would have made it onto OcUK. His family claim he's mentaly ill because he suffers from bi-polar but how can suffering from depression make you want to take up drug trafficking in the far east I don't know. Are the chinese right to execute this guy?

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/news/british-man-to-be-executed-in-china-19524351.html

magick · 27 Dec 2009 at 11:09

p4radox said:
He's clearly not a very well man, with either severe bipolar disorder or some other serious problems. Execution does not seem a particularly sensible option.

So his family and defence team claim. But when faced with the death penalty I suppose they would say he's mentaly ill.

magick · 27 Dec 2009 at 11:10

Jono8 said:
" quick, stick two pencils up your nose and put your pants on head. They will think you are insane and you will get of scot free"

+1

magick · 27 Dec 2009 at 11:16

Dolph said:
I can't see how drug smuggling justifies the death penalty by any stretch of reason

JBuk said:
Execution for drug smuggling seems a bit harsh

Because heroin is an extremely destructive drug socialy and on an individual level.

magick · 27 Dec 2009 at 14:38

JoeMama said:
I can quite easily see someone like that being duped into carrying drugs with the promise of a huge career in the film industry.

I'd like to know more about the background of the man's mental illness, whether he had been taking his medication regularly, whether he had been keeping psychiatrist appointments etc or any indication of his mental state. Even then it would be hard to make a judgment.

He previously worked as a taxi driver in london so he did have some level of cognizance. The mental illness just sounds like a last ditch attempt to avoid the death penalty.

magick · 31 Dec 2009 at 10:09

Apparantly the Chinese did show him some leniancy as normaly when you caught smuggling heroin you'r usualy executed on the spot. But because he had a British passport he was given a trial and lived for an extra 2 years. By chinese standards and for the crime he was caught doing that is leniancy.

magick · 31 Dec 2009 at 10:30

territt said:
30 minutes really isnt a trial???

It's 30 min more of a trial than what most people who get caught for smuggling heroin normaly get. Usualy when you get caught smuggling heroin the trial is done away with and they shoot you there and then.