Derby human rights campaigner hoping for 11th-hour China reprieve
A HUMAN rights campaigner from Derby hopes to wake up today with the news that a British drug smuggler has been spared execution in China.
Sally Rowen, legal director of UK charity Reprieve, has been working with the family of Akmal Shaikh to persuade Chinese courts to have mercy.
Mr Shaikh, 53, from north London, was due to be executed today despite denying all knowledge of the 4kg of heroin in his possession in the city of Urumqi in 2007.
His defence team have said that the father-of-three suffers from bipolar disorder and did not know what he was doing.
Miss Rowen said: "China does have a reputation of last-minute reprieves – we're hoping that will be the case this time."
Comments
by martin thomson, dundee
Monday, December 28 2009, 3:56PM
“we have so many junkies here in dundee-the lace is an eyesore with them,and with the crime they commit to get money to buy smack. Good riddens to him.Bipolar disorder has no bearing on whether a person can comprehend or understand something of this magnitude-Would it have stopped him spending the profits from it all?? I think NOT!!”