A Briton facing the death penalty for drug trafficking in China probably has serious mental illness and should not be executed, supporters said Tuesday.
Akmal Shaikh, who is thought to have bipolar disorder, was arrested in 2007 at Urumqui in China's western Xinjiang province with around four kilograms of heroin. Supporters say he was tricked into carrying it.
He was sentenced to death in 2008 and his case is currently being reviewed by China's Supreme Court, which means a final decision on his fate is likely to be imminent. Executions in China normally follow quickly after a decision.
His case has been taken up by British legal rights group Reprieve, whose director Clive Stafford Smith said Shaikh had not been properly assessed by a medic.
"He's in very dire straits because he's about to face the very last appeal," Stafford Smith at a press conference in London.
"After that, the Chinese process is that they take a bullet and they fire it in the back of your head…
"We want him at least to be properly evaluated by a doctor."
The 53-year-old, who lives in London but whose family is originally from Pakistan, has a history of erratic behaviour, his brother and Reprieve said.
After moving to Poland in the hope of starting an airline, despite lacking the cash to do so, he met a man called Carlos who told him he could help him become a pop star and sent him to Kyrgyzstan.
He ended up in Tajikistan where he was put up in a five-star hotel, given a bag and told to fly to China, where he was arrested on arrival, Reprieve said.
His brother Akbar Shaikh told the press conference: "I'd like to appeal to the Chinese authorities to show compassion to my brother".
The Foreign Office in London said it had already made "representations" to the Chinese authorities over Shaikh's case and would continue to do so.
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