URUMQI, China — Relatives made a last-minute plea for mercy Monday for a Briton scheduled to be executed in China for drug smuggling after visiting the man whom they say may be mentally ill. Akmal Shaikh, a 53-year-old father of three, was not aware that his execution had been scheduled for Tuesday, until his cousins told him. He would be the first citizen of a European country to be put to death in China in half a century. China has already rejected a plea from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for Shaikh to be spared. Eleventh-hour appeals are almost never granted in China, which executes more people each year than all other countries combined. "We beg the Chinese authorities for mercy and clemency to help reunite this heartbroken family," his cousin, Soohail Shaikh, said in a statement read to reporters in the far western city of Urumqi, where his cousin is being held. Soohail Shaikh said he and his brother Nasir Shaikh visited Akmal Shaikh on Monday morning – his first direct family contact in the two years since he was arrested. Soohail Shaikh said his cousin had not previously been told of his impending execution. "He was obviously very upset on hearing from us of the sentence that was passed," Soohail Shaikh said.
Akmal Shaikh, British Man, To Be Executed By China Tuesday
The Huffington Post News Editors, Huffington Post
Mon, 12/28/2009 - 9:08am
Topics: relatives european british prime minister gordon brown eleventh-hour nasir shaikh pakistani october tajikistan britain drug chinese foreign ministry jiang yu two british reprieve supreme people's court chinese president hu jintao calls xinjiang supreme court in london embassy latif shaikh associated press writer meera selva urumqi china a shaikh akmal shaikh it chinese soohail shaikh london beijing urumqi executed cousin execution told mercy smuggling clemency report scheduled feel rejected
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