China Executes Briton

(Urumqi, Xinjiang Province) At 10:30 AM local time today, Chinese authorities executed by firing squad British citizen Akmal Shaikh (aka Amal Shaik), 53, for heroin trafficking.

Although China leads the world in offing people, it reportedly is the first execution of a European by China in 51 years.

The Briton, whose family had asked for clemency on the grounds that the suspect was mentally unstable, had attempted to smuggle four kilograms of heroin into the country where 50 gram are known to lead to this sentence.

Rights groups and Western leaders pleaded for Shaikh's life, requesting commutation or clemency instead, but were unsuccessful.

Mr. Shaikh's defenders had claimed that he was mentally ill and he had been tricked into carrying the heroin into China.