Britain has called on China to show clemency to a UK citizen set to be executed on December 29 for drug smuggling, AFP reported. Akmal Shaikh, who is said to have bipolar disorder, lost his final appeal on Monday against the sentence in China’s Supreme Court. Shaikh was arrested in Urumqi in the western region of Xinjiang in 2007 after being discovered in possession of 4 kilograms of heroin. His supporters say he suffered from a delusion that he was going to China to record a hit single and, once there, was tricked into carrying the drugs by a criminal gang. Both UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the EU have asked China to take into account Shaikh’s mental health in reviewing the case. A spokesman for the UK Foreign Office said it would “renew and intensify” its appeal over the next few days.
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