【10.01.03 英国卫报】 Akmal Shaikh's family call for inquest into execution

青蛙小王子

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/03/akmal-shaikh-family-inquest-execution

The family of Akmal Shaikh, the Briton executed in China for drug smuggling, has called for the government to hold an inquest into his death, saying they got no details from Chinese authorities.

The 53-year-old former manager of a minicab firm in north London was put to death in Urumqi, north-west China, on 29 December, despite a number of appeals for clemency from the UK. His family say Shaikh was suffering significant mental illness, most likely bipolar disorder, and was duped by drug smugglers into carrying 4kg of heroin into the country.

His brother, Akbar, has written to the foreign secretary, David Miliband, asking for an inquest in the UK "so that some of our questions can be answered and the terrible mysteries surrounding my brother's apparent death, 7,000 miles from his family and all alone, can be resolved for us".

The lack of information about the execution had caused the family "incredible grief and torment", he added.
Clive Stafford Smith, the lawyer whose organisation, Reprieve, is assisting the family, said the Chinese government had given Shaikh's relatives almost no information about the execution.
"Despite having flown to China to be with him, Shaikh's family were not told of his death until he was already apparently buried in the frozen soil of Urumqi," he said. "Nobody told the family how or where he would be killed. No family member or independent observer was allowed to witness his death, view his body or verify his burial. We have only the word of a press release that he was even killed.
"An inquest would give this grieving family a crucial insight into Akmal's final hours, his mental state and the extent to which he suffered before he died."
While relatives and friends of Shaikh say his poor mental health was evident, the court that tried him carried out no psychological assessment.