London: Prime Minister Gordon Brown has
written to the Chinese government to express his "dismay" that
a British citizen is due to be executed there and appealed for
clemency, his office said today.
Akmal Shaikh, a 53-year-old father-of-three whose
supporters say suffers from bipolar disorder, faces execution
on December 29 for drug smuggling.
He lost his final appeal yesterday in China's Supreme
Court, his lawyers said.
"The prime minister and foreign secretary have raised
Akmal Shaikh's case with China's leaders on many occasions," a
spokesman for Brown's Downing Street office said.
"Yesterday the prime minister wrote to express his dismay
that Akmal Shaikh's sentence has been upheld by the Supreme
People's Court.
"The prime minister has appealed to the Chinese
government to show clemency."
The news comes amid strains in ties between London and
Beijing over this month's United Nations climate change summit
in Copenhagen, with a British minister accusing China of
"hijacking" the negotiations.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 00:02