'Last hours' for death row Briton

[crayola]

Does anyone else find this case extremely disturbing?

Briton Akmal Shaikh faces 'final hours' on death row

A British man found guilty of drug smuggling in China is facing what could be his final hours on death row.

Akmal Shaikh, of London, has reportedly been told by his family that he faces death at 1030 (0230 GMT) on Tuesday.

The 53-year-old denied all knowledge of 4kg of heroin found on him in the north-western city of Urumqi in 2007.

His family say he is mentally ill. His daughter Leilla Hornsell told the BBC: "I don't think he will be able to really understand what's happening."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged the Chinese government to show clemency towards Mr Shaikh, who is believed to suffer from bipolar disorder.

[joxville]

Does anyone else find this case extremely disturbing?

Yes. How someone who is proud to be Asian becomes British when he's facing a death penalty disturbs me.

[Rheghead]

Would it be fair to say that being bi-polar doesn't affect one's sense of right and wrong?

[Serenity]

Would it be fair to say that being bi-polar doesn't affect one's sense of right and wrong?

You are correct there but the press are reporting it wrong. He was tricked into taking the drugs by someone who told him he had a record deal (or something similar) in China. The guy said he would meet him at the airport and fly him over. He never met him but asked him to take his luggage. Bi-polar does not affect one's sense of right and wrong but it would make him be so over-excited by this prospect that he didn't think it through. At least that is what I remember from reading it a while ago.

[joxville]

Would it be fair to say that being bi-polar doesn't affect one's sense of right and wrong?

Absolutely. My brothers wife has been *loopy for about 40 years, it's only in the last few years she was diagnosed as being bi-polar. She knows fully the difference between right and wrong.







*Not my term, loopy is how my s-i-l describes herself, personally I would use fruitcake.

[crayola]

I don't know anything much about bipolar disorder but even the story as presented by Reprieve sounds very odd.

Reprieve version of events

What was he doing in Poland? Was he up to no good there or is he just a loopy easily-led fruitcake or what?

I am generally not in favour of the death penalty (apart from for fundamental political correctness, bankers gambling with our future and being George W Bush) and I don't approve of the state killing people for being drug-running fruitcakes.

[Serenity]

I am generally not in favour of the death penalty (apart from for fundamental political correctness, bankers gambling with our future and being George W Bush) and I don't approve of the state killing people for being drug-running fruitcakes.

I'm not in favour of the death penalty at all but that is beside the point in this case.

[Rheghead]

You are correct there but the press are reporting it wrong. He was tricked into taking the drugs by someone who told him he had a record deal (or something similar) in China. The guy said he would meet him at the airport and fly him over. He never met him but asked him to take his luggage. Bi-polar does not affect one's sense of right and wrong but it would make him be so over-excited by this prospect that he didn't think it through. At least that is what I remember from reading it a while ago.

How did Akmal Shaikh get hold of someone's luggage without a meeting?

[Boozeburglar]

Yes. How someone who is proud to be Asian becomes British when he's facing a death penalty disturbs me.

He is a British National. Nothing to do with what he is facing. He has every right to be a proud Asian. Nothing to do with the issue.

[Boozeburglar]

I don't know anything much about bipolar disorder


is he just a loopy easily-led fruitcake or what?

You don't know much about it?

I would guess one as wise as you knows more than you suggest.

[hails4]

I'm for the death penalty, it would make people think twice about what they are doing. How you can blow up a bus or school etc in this country and in effect be let away is beyond me. A nice coushy cell with a ps3 and tv hours etc all on the tax payers expense? Id pay have them rightfully executed.

[Serenity]

How did Akmal Shaikh get hold of someone's luggage without a meeting?

That was a typo, I meant the guy claimed he couldn't fly with him. Read Crayola's link.

[Rheghead]

ok no worries.

4kg is quite a lot to deny knowledge over, not like a wee envelope. That is 20% of what you are allowed in baggage before you get surcharged.

[crayola]

You don't know much about it?

Yet you choose to use those terms?

Unlike you, I have to say..

I chose to use jox's descriptions.

[Boozeburglar]

I did not see fruitcake mentioned before.



Just wanted to be clear, because it does not seem like you at all.

[Vistravi]

I'm for the death penalty, it would make people think twice about what they are doing. How you can blow up a bus or school etc in this country and in effect be let away is beyond me. A nice coushy cell with a ps3 and tv hours etc all on the tax payers expense? Id pay have them rightfully executed.

Aye but it has to be absoultly certain that the person is guilty. One of the reasons capital punishment was abolished was because they were killing innocent people.

I do think for convicted peodphilles and serial killers capital punishment is the only way to handle them. But again they have to be proven without a doubt that they are guilty.

[bekisman]

'the Chinese have a habit of reprieving at the very last minute' anon

we'll have to wait and see...

[bullielove]

I don't know anything much about bipolar disorder but even the story as presented by Reprieve sounds very odd.

Reprieve version of events

What was he doing in Poland? Was he up to no good there or is he just a loopy easily-led fruitcake or what?

I am generally not in favour of the death penalty (apart from for fundamental political correctness, bankers gambling with our future and being George W Bush) and I don't approve of the state killing people for being drug-running fruitcakes.

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealt...rdisorder.aspx

the link above will tell anyone who is genuinely interested in bipolar how it effects sufferers including how it affects judgement, beliefs and emotions..

I hope there isnt anyone who has bipolar reading this thread as the terminology used is insulting to say the least and I hope that future posters will consider the language they use to describe others who experience mental health problems - at the end of the day mental health problems will affect one in four of you at some point

[Rheghead]

The last time I flew was nearly 5 years ago and I'm sure I was given a card which I had to sign which made me declare that the luggage I was carrying was mine and not belonging to another. I wonder if this guy had to do the same?

[Alan16]

On the whole I'm not against the death penalty - for example I'd be quite happy for it to be used on Tobin and those of similar ilk - but for this case it seems a bit excessive. He certainly deserves jail time, for being unbelievably stupid if nothing else - to quote somebody "I'm not saying we should kill stupid people, but just take the safety labels off things and let nature take its course". The man may have bi-polar whatever, but from what I've read he is to all intents and purposes a fully functioning human being who should have had an understanding that what he was doing was wrong. To kill a man because he smuggled heroin (a lot of the stuff mind) is not right though. I hope they do not go through with the execution (which I believe will entail him being shot in the neck which seems very archaic) but I expect that they will.