Should this drug smuggler die?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.guardian.c...haikh-china-execution

[123everton]

It's up to them, their rules, no fcuking about in China

[NoMercy]

No, I don't think his life should be terminated by means of a state-sanctioned execution. He does, however, deserve a lenghty prison sentence. There are clearly mitigating circumstances, but I think justice would be better served upon the people who conviced this unwitting man to carry the drugs in the first place.

[craft1948]

Tough one this.if he really has mental issues. If he hasn't then I agree with Everton......I've no sympathy with drug smugglers.

[NoMercy]

*convinced*

[mollykins]

even if the death penalty was in place in britain, drug smuglers would still only get a couple of years in prison (and released after a couple of months most probably) but he would jsut be put in a mental home so he is safe and could not be exploited.

[mollykins]

yeah, like nm says, the people who made him do it should be the ones in the most trouble.

[NoMercy]

I think the great humanitarians of Communist China would be better off cutting this type of crime off at the source, rather than making an example of the go-fers, whose chief duty it is to carry their "produce" from A to B. I'm sure the principal concern of Akmal Shaikh and his family now is his impending doom. The principal concern of his suppliers..."Who's going to replace him?"

Killing Shaikh, whilst sending out a clear message to the rest of the world, will not stop his "suppliers" from peddling their evil substances. But I'm sure China already knows this.

[rov1200]

I'd wish Brown would put the same energy into the thousands of old people who die every year through lack of heating in the UK. They are the innocent forgotten not a high profile drug dealer.

[rov1200]

The forgotten many:

http://www.telegraph....national-scandal.html

[sp1814]

rov1200

Actually, I'd suggest the blame shouldn't be placed at the feet of the government, but by families who increasingly desert their elderly relatives.

Whatever happened to the extended family?

[Sandy-Wroe]

The people recruited as 'drug mules' are either immature, the teenage girls arrested in West Africa a couple of years ago, or vulnerable in some other way.
Akmal Shaikh is severely mentally ill. If the Chinese execute him it won't be a deterrent to other mules because they are hardly people who follow the news.
The people who recruited Shaikh will accept the loss of their drugs as a risk of the business. They don't risk a firing squad.
I believe capital punishment is wrong. To execute a man who suffers severe mental illness is an outrage.

[anotheoldgit]

What proof is there that Akmal Shaikh suffers severe mental illness?

His Brother hasn't seen him since 2001.

[ORANGEANDPROUD]

' "Consultant clinical and forensic psychologist Dr Peter Schaapveld travelled to China last month but was blocked from meeting Mr Shaikh.

But he was able to quiz officials from the British Embassy, briefly see Mr Shaikh from a distance and examine a series of his emails.

He said: "The evidence as I have seen it indicates very strongly that he was suffering from mental disorder in the lead up to his arrest." '

[Twenty20]

Yeah, well based on that, most of the people who write by email must have mental disorders too.

I've no sympathy with drug smugglers. If the death penalty is the law in China where he was caught then so be it.

[tamborine]

He's been executed.....now our Gov ministers are whinging at China embassy doors. Chinese say there was 'insufficient evidence' of accused's mental state.

Hurrah, one less drug dealer!