Akmal Shaikh. Photograph: Reprieve/PA
Amnesty International has joined a chorus of criticism of
China over the execution by lethal injection of Akmal Shaikh, a British convicted drug smuggler said by friends and family to have been mentally ill.
Amnesty said Shaikh's execution again highlighted the "injustice and inhumanity of the death penalty, particularly as it is implemented in China". Amnesty estimates China executes at least three times as many people as every other country put together.
Sam Zarifi, Amnesty's Asia programme director, said: "Much information about the death penalty is considered a state secret but Mr Shaikh's treatment seems consistent with what we know from other cases: a short, almost perfunctory trial where not all the evidence was presented and investigated, and the death penalty applied to a non-violent crime.
"Under international
human rights law, as well Chinese law, a defendant's mental health can and should be taken into account, and it doesn't seem that in this case the Chinese authorities did so.
"It's simply not enough for the Chinese authorities to say 'we did the right thing, trust us'. Now there can be no reassessment of evidence, no reprieve after a man's life has been taken.
"The UK, the EU and the rest of the world should continue to press the Chinese government to increase the transparency surrounding the death penalty in China and to improve the due process offered all defendants, particularly those facing charges punishable by death."
Clive Stafford Smith, the director of the human rights group Reprieve, which supported Shaikh's family through the case, said: "Sad to say I have watched six people die in execution chambers, and it is as ghastly as it is pointless. Is the world somehow a better place today because China refused to show compassion for an obviously ill man? Of course not. China's refusal to even allow a proper medical evaluation is simply disgusting."
Sally Rowen, the legal director of the death penalty team at Reprieve, said: "The death of Akmal Shaikh is a sad indictment of today's world and particularly of China's legal system. Akmal was a gentle man who suffered from a tormenting illness; he slipped through the cracks of society and was betrayed and deliberately killed by one of the most powerful nations on earth. We at Reprieve are sickened by what we have seen during our work on this case."
Through Reprieve, Akmal's family issued a statement: "The family express their grief at the Chinese decision to refuse mercy; thank all those who tried hard to bring about a different result – including Reprieve, the FCO, those who attended the vigil, and the organisers of the Facebook group who garnered more than 5,000 members in a few short days; and ask the media and public to respect their privacy as they come to terms with what has happened to someone they loved."
Philip Alston, a UN special rapporteur, told Radio 4's Today programme that the refusal to allow doctors to assess Shaikh's mental health was "clearly in violation not only of Chinese law but also international law".
"International law points very strongly in the direction of only carrying out the death penalty for crimes which have led to deaths," he said.
He said China "has made noises and made some efforts in terms of specific measures" to improve judicial processes around the death penalty, such as requiring all such sentences to be ratified by the supreme court. But he rejected the view that China deserved credit for tackling the drugs trade.
"It's not the people who are profiting, it's the idiots who are picked on and gullible enough to engage in this sort of behaviour [who are punished]. It is time for the international community to mount a much more concerted effort to put an end to these sorts of executions, and not only to react when one individual cases arises which is particularly troubling to us."
David Cameron, the Conservative leader, backed the efforts of Gordon Brown and other ministers to secure a reprieve. "I deplore and deeply regret the fact that the Chinese authorities have executed Akmal Shaikh and did not heed the pleas for clemency made in his case by the British government, by the opposition parties, by his family and by others.
"There were serious concerns about Mr Shaikh's mental health. It is appalling that these concerns were not independently assessed during the more than two years Mr Shaikh was in custody and taken properly into account in the judicial process.
"We supported the government in the efforts they have made and I join with them in sending my sympathy to Mr Shaikh's family and friends."
Mental health campaigners condemned the execution. Robert Westhead, a spokesman for the bipolar organisation MDF, said: "How a society treats people affected by mental illness is always a good indicator of how civilised it is.
"The way the Chinese authorities have stubbornly failed to take account of this poor man's severe mental illness shows that China is still stuck in the dark ages. This execution is medieval rough justice gone badly wrong."
Marjorie Wallace, the chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, said: "The execution of Mr Shaikh is a brutal and sad day for the rights of mentally ill people everywhere. The Chinese authorities showed not only lack of compassion for a sick person but a profound ignorance about how a mental illness such as bipolar disorder can affect a person's sense of reality."
In a blogpost on the Foreign Office website, the foreign secretary, David Miliband, acknowledged there was "massive public support" in China for Shaikh's execution. "I oppose
capital punishment in all circumstances. Along with every EU country it is banned in Britain. But not every country agrees. That's their prerogative … this is not about who hates drug running the most. We all do. It is about whether a man with a mental health condition has become an additional victim of the deadly trade.
"We have said many times we welcome the economic rise of China and believe its integration into the world system is one of the great opportunities of the 21st century, not just one of the challenges. Events like those of today will only fuel the argument of those who say this is an impossible dream and that the value systems are just too different.
"I don't believe that. But it is a reminder of how different can be our perspective. We need to understand China (and the massive public support for the execution). They need to understand us."
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