RELATIVES OF Akmal Shaikh visited the condemned man on death row in the western Chinese city of Urumqi yesterday to try to beg for mercy regarding his scheduled execution today for drug smuggling.
His cousins Soohail and Nasir Shaikh visited the British father of three, who his supporters say suffers from bipolar disorder, and told him for the first time that his execution was scheduled for this morning, information he had not been given.
“We beg the Chinese authorities for mercy and clemency to help reunite this heartbroken family,” the brothers said in a statement they read to reporters in Urumqi before returning to Beijing late last night.
Rights group Reprieve said there was no other legal route for Mr Shaikh to follow after his appeal was rejected, and that his only chance now was a last-minute pardon.
The chances of the Chinese granting an 11th-hour appeal are slim at best. Mr Shaikh is due to be executed by a bullet in the back of the neck this morning, Chinese time.
Mr Shaikh (53) was sentenced after a trial that lasted half an hour in October 2008 for taking 4kg of heroin into Urumqi. China’s highest court rejected his appeal.
His family insist that he suffers mental health problems and was fooled into committing the crime by criminals in Tajikistan, who promised the delusional man a career in pop music in China.
Last week a government spokesman said the case was handled in accordance with the law.