CHINA IGNORES APPEALS, EXECUTES BRITON

BEIJING -- China executed a British national for drug smuggling,
sparking outrage from British leaders, who had appealed for clemency
on mental-health grounds, and threatening to strain relations between
the countries.

Akmal Shaikh, convicted of carrying more than four kilograms of
heroin two years ago at Urumqi Diwopu International Airport in
northwestern Xinjiang province, was executed by lethal injection on
Tuesday after China's Supreme People's Court upheld his death
sentence, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned the execution, saying
in a statement that he is "appalled and disappointed that our
persistent requests for clemency have not been granted." He expressed
his "sincere condolences" to Mr. Shaikh's family and friends.

"I am particularly concerned that no mental-health assessment was
undertaken," he added.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu dismissed the British
complaints. At a regular news briefing she said the Chinese
government is "strongly dissatisfied and is absolutely opposed to the
unjustifiable condemnations" from the U.K.

"We urge the British side to show respect to China's judicial
supremacy and redress the mistake immediately to avoid damaging
bilateral relations," Ms. Jiang said.

Cousins of Mr. Shaikh visited him on Monday, his first direct family
contact in two years, and issued a last-minute plea for mercy, the
Associated Press reported. The cousins said they felt the 53-year-old
father of three, a small-business owner from London, was not rational
and needed medication. They said he was lured to China by men who
promised to help him launch a career in pop music.

Xinhua quoted a statement issued by the Supreme People's Court as
saying that that there was insufficient proof that Mr. Shaikh had any
mental-health issues and that the evidence against him was "certain
and the facts were clear."

Mr. Shaikh's rights were fully granted, the court said, adding that
drug crimes are serious criminal offenses with "severe negative
social impact," according to the Xinhua report.

According to Chinese criminal law, people trafficking more than 50
grams of heroin can be punished by death.

Reprieve, a London-based prisoner-advocacy group that lobbied for Mr.
Shaikh, said he is the first European to be executed in China in 58
years. The last person was an Italian, Antonio Riva, who was shot by
firing squad in 1951, along with a Japanese man, Ruichi Yamaguchi,
after being convicted of involvement in what China alleged was an
American plot to assassinate Mao Zedong and other high-ranking
Communist officials.

The execution again put a spotlight on China's use of the death
penalty and its judicial processes, which have attracted criticism
from international human-rights groups.

The Chinese central government doesn't disclose death-penalty
statistics. But Amnesty International estimates that China executed
at least 1,718 people last year, the most of any country, followed by
346 people executed in Iran, 102 in Saudi Arabia, and 37 in the U.S.

Roseann Rife, the deputy director of Amnesty's Asia Pacific program,
said the number of executions in China in 2008 could be as high as
5,000 or 6,000. She said Mr. Shaikh's nationality didn't seem to be a
factor in his sentencing, but because his case received high-profile
attention there was reason to hope for a different outcome.

Ms. Rife called the lack of consideration for outside concerns "a
comment on the Chinese government's disregard for international
opinion, disregard for international human-rights obligations, and
also a real disregard for the rule of law."

Ms. Jiang said China "is very cautious in applying the death
penalty." She added: "China is a country ruled by law, and our
justice agencies are strictly doing their job based on law."