Treatment of Aliens

Death Penalty

Akmal Shaikh, 53, was arrested in September 2007 at an airport in Urumqi for carrying a suitcase containing 4 kg of heroin and was sentenced to death in October 2008 by a Urumqi court, becoming reportedly the first British citizen to be executed in China. British officials and human rights groups, apparently convinced that Mr. Shaikh was psychotic, have worked to save his life, pointing to his outlandish statements as convincing proof of his insanity, eg "I am the chosen one here to deliver world peace,... All I know is that Abraham has shown me my home in seventh heaven and I have met all the prophets.” Of course, by that standard, many British and American celebrities should long have been committed to asylum. (Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck come easily to mind.)

Ma Zhaoxu, a Chinese FM spokesman, responded that China's Supreme People's Court is reviewing the sentence, but stupidly added that translation service had been provided to the accused and that the accused had said that he and his family members had no history of mental diseases. Someone needs to tell Mr. Ma and his colleagues that no one with half a brain would care about what the accused said when that man's sanity is in question, nor would a Chinese translation make any difference!