The Strange Case Of Akmal Shaikh: The X Factor, Drugs And Death In China
AKMAL Shaikh is due to be executed in China on December 29 for heroin smuggling. Outside the Chinese Embassy in London a small group of protesters hold a candlelight vigil. The family of the 53-year-old from Kentish Town in north London have launched a last minute emotional plea today for a reprieve by the Chinese authorities. In China, they kill their own protestors.
It will be around 5,000 in 2009, down from 6,000 in 2007, according to the US-based Dui Hua Foundation.
What chance for Akmal Sheikh to be made an exception?
A preliminary medical report by clinical psychologist Dr Peter Schaapveld suggests that the odd decisions leading up to Akmal’s offence were most likely influenced by some form of delusional psychosis.
On 12 September 2007, Akmal Shaikh flew into Urumqi, in north west China, from Dushanbe, in Tajikistan. Akmal states that he went to China in the hope of launching a pop career.
Delusions are why the X Factor flourishes, over 25s category included. Shaikh’s brother Akbar has also written to Fu Ying, Beijing’s ambassador to London, appealing for the Chinese authorities to show mercy. Fu Ying was last heard from during the X Factor as Jedward proved that China’s one child policy was not so nuts after all:
X FACTOR has sparked an international row after the Chinese Ambassador living next door to contestants protested about fans. .. Ambassador Madam Fu Ying [make that Madame Fu-Ming – eh, readers] who entertains guests at the property, is “very irritated” by fans constantly screaming, creating litter and scrawling graffiti on the gates to the upmarket property.
Fu Ying found time to tell us:
“I learnt about The X Factor in the neighbourhood from embassy colleagues living nearby who complained about the noise made by the young fans outside the X Factor house. My daughter emailed me wondering if she could fly in and join the screaming fans!”
The X Factor is something vital enough for the Chinese ambassador to take a personal interest in. A man’s life is something the mandarin offers no views on. The song is called Come Little Rabbit:
So clemency?
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said: “China’s judicial authorities independently handled this case in accordance with the law. Drug-smuggling is a grave crime in international practice.”
The story goes:
It is Shaikh’s case that back in 2007, “Carlos” told him that he knew people in the music industry that could assist and in September that year paid for a flight for Shaikh to Kyrgyzstan. There, his passport was taken by a gang of men – an act which did not unduly worry Shaikh, who believed he would soon be so famous that he would be recognised at every border crossing. When his passport was eventually returned, he was introduced to a man called Okole. This man, Shaikh claims he was told, ran a huge nightclub in China that would be the perfect venue for the debut performance of Come Little Rabbit.
The story is set for a very unhappy end:
Mr Shaikh’s cousin, Latif Shaikh, 41, a lift engineer from Chigwell who is Mrs Khan’s brother, said the family were “devastated” at the news that he was to be executed.
He said Mr Shaikh’s mother, who is in her 80s, and lives in north London, knew he was in prison but was unaware that he faced the death penalty..
“The whole family is absolutely devastated, his own mother does not know yet.
“I hope and pray that it will not come to this. This execution will take two lives without a doubt.”
What will happen? And should the UK intervene?
Polska (the Times) reveals today that he has two Polish children. But Warsaw is not joining with Prime Minister Gordon Brown in partitioning for clemency for the 53 year-old.
What next? and if Mr Shaikhis killed by the Chinese authorities, what will Gordon Brown do about it. Answer: nothing.
8161741
Posted: 28th, December 2009 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
