Briton executed in China

[Martyn]

Found guilty of drug smuggling but said to be mentally ill.

Fury as China executes British drug smuggler | World news | The Guardian

 

[hijo]

...the man committed a crime in a different country..there are lots of warnings about this ..he knew what he was doing ..and he would have been paid well if he wasn,t caught..4 kilo,s of cocaine ..would have brought misery or death to many people who use it...why would other countries be angry ..its none of there business ..the world would be a better place if other countrys kept their nose out of countries laws ..:walkman:

 

[parrot]

Wasn't there a quote from a judge in the wild west who said"I'm not hanging you for stealing a horse I'm hanging so others don't steal them"
Sends a strong message,don't take drugs into China.

 

[jcrian]

If only this Country showed the same determination when dealing with drug smugglers, we would not have the problems we do.
China has its own laws, as do we ( made by the EU) and this man broke them and paid the price.

Very hypocritical of our government to try interfering with the legal process in one case but put it in writing that they can't in another in West Africa.

 

[Howell's]

I also think if you do the crime and get caught you must pay.. His family say he had a mental disorder but that never bothered them when he was living on the streets in Poland where he met the gang that he smuggled the drugs for...

 

[pineapple1]

What it has to do with other countries i really don't know !
We don't start telling USA to stop exicuteing killers etc . this country is as soft as jelly . The UK is like an injured rat on the road No backbone No guts And No sense But plenty of do gooders who don't do much and still leave little kids off the at risk register . He knew he'd taken drugs in with him and must have known the penilty Sorry no pity from me . Why don't they write and complain about Shirleys son . hmmmm roll on june . We can complain to a different goverment about every thing ......Diane

 

[immac]

The mental health excuse only came in after he was convicted. Bi-Polar disorder is not a defence for drug smuggling and many thousands of people who struggle with that affliction may well feel themselves stigmatised by the way it has been portrayed in this case.

Ian

 

[hijo]

..just watching sky news ..saying the amount of drugs he smuggled in could have killed 28,800 people..and the affected families..he got what he deserved ..mind you Gordon Brown says he was dissapointed in the chinese goverments decision..maybe this is why britain is going down the drain..with wrong decisions..hwell:

 

[pineapple1]

Would Gordon Brown == Gordon Clown still be dissapointed if that amount of drugs were brought into the UK .. I don't think so he'd have been crowing like a rooster about how good our security systems are ....Boooooo .....Diane

 

[immac]

Brown is an ass.
Despite their avowed objection to the death penalty, they did not object one bit when Saddam was going to be strung up.

I was also amused by the charities who were trying to get this drug smuggler off. When asked what they were doing about the hundreds of Chinese on death row - nothing.

I did feel sorry for this man´s daughter who was doing her best for her dad. She seemed like an child in the storm of media attention, and that was sad to hear.

Ian

 

[Patty]

I feel quite strongly about this. Perhaps if other countries followed this example people might think twice about smuggling. They probably think oh well, we'll be shipped back to England to do time in comfort!!

Pat

 

[jcrian]

Part of a letter from Chris Bryant (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) received earlier this year. Talk about hypocritical!

 

[Martyn]

As said previously it sends a clear message to others.

 

[juco]

You can go for or against the death penalty and wether this guy deserved it or not but I think this is a political decision between china and britain.

The chinese government are telling the uk government what they really think of them, which isn`t a lot. This is `egg on the face` for Gordon Brown and that to me is what this about.

The Chinese are now beginning to throw their political weight around the international arena the same as they did with the climate summit.

Neither country could care less if he was executed or not, it was about political point scoring.

In my opinion.

 

[thingthong]

For me its a clear message to the worlds drug dealers,come to china and smuggle drugs and if we catch you ,you will be executed,simple,no hiding behind any charities or liberal governments,drug dealers when caught in china will die.....and rightly so.........

 

[saffie]

Sorry but in my book,you do the deed-you pay the price.

A great pity that more countries don't have such severe penalties for drug smuggling. If they did so perhaps these low lifes wouldn't be peddling this evil stuff in the first place.


saffie

 

[ceemac]

I'm not sure though whether Britain would see calls for clemency, (re the sentence), as interfering in another country's legal process, merely an humanitarian appeal?

That said, China can't very well execute their own people for similar offences and let a citizen of another country off just because a campaign starts up.

The Chinese have been surprisingly perhaps, forthcoming about the case. Their London Embassy stated this after the execution;

"During the legal process, Mr Shaikh's rights and interests were properly respected and guaranteed and the concerns of the British side were duly noted and taken into consideration by the Chinese judicial authorities," it said.

"Out of humanitarian consideration, visas were granted to the two cousins of Mr Shaikh on Boxing Day, and they were given access to meeting Mr Shaikh in China.

"As for his possible mental illness which has been much talked about, there apparently has been no previous medical record."

As long as they did it for the right reasons, I would have no hesitation in supporting it.

I'd be a little concerned they were trying to give Britain a slap over the recent Copenhagen conference when Brown publicly blamed them for wrecking it.

Much to ponder though......


C

 

[shirleyanntr]

İ have a son who is in prison in ghana in the most dreadful circumstances. He was not involved in the crime...my brother was.
İ have campaigned tirelessly for intervention and Fair Trials İnternational have put on record that there was no proof of my sons involvement.
At the moment he is really ill he has severe cervical spondylosis and the rest of his spine is arthritic also...bone spurs in his neck are compressing an artery which could cause a stroke at any time.We have had to pay 1000 pounds for him to have a scan and he is in need of urgent surgery.At the moment we are appealing to the President for something to be done.
My son has never been in trouble in his life..he is 50 years old has been a carpenter since leaving school was retired because of spondylytis.

My brother has lived in Ghana for 35 years and needed money for cancer treatment he foolishly accepted money to store cocaine until the traffickers picked it up. He was wrong and is paying for this is in a most brutal way.

We can all bleat on and moralise about drugs..whichever form they are taken in.....they are a menace..they have destroyed my family ...unfortunately the knock on effect can touch all of us in one way or another.
İ feel for this poor man who has been cruelly executed...his death wont affect anything apart from making more suffering for his family.
the solution to the problem lies with governments..who pay lip service to curtailing drugs..but just as they do with the tobacco industry..they reap financial rewards in a big way..yet dont pay the price this man has done in China.

 

[Yalides]

For me its a clear message to the worlds drug dealers,come to china and smuggle drugs and if we catch you ,you will be executed,simple,no hiding behind any charities or liberal governments,drug dealers when caught in china will die.....and rightly so.........

Couldn,t agree more. Well said.

 

[martin m]

Hi all
It appears that China may have put to death 5000 humans in 2009, and according to the news last night that would be around 72% of the world total, Now whilst i agree that something needs doing in this country to sort out our drug problems, how sure can any of us be that every single one of those people executed were guilty, and before any one throws that old chestnut into the mix "your bound to get some injustices" lets hope the next misplaced justice does not happen to anyone in your family.
If you chop an hand off at least they can be compensated if it turns out they were not guilty,if you lock em up do exactly that LOCK EM UP, bread and water (i am not kidding) no pool tables, no tv, no recreation, no parole,do the sentence that you are given, and lets see how many reoffend, yes some will, but they still do things in other countries knowing that they could get the death penalty, so that in itself proves that the death penalty does not totally eradicate the problem, 5000 people took that gamble and lost in 2009 in china.
martin