Under Chinese law, possession of more than 50 grams of heroin is punishable by execution. The decision to execute Shaikh was reached by Chinese authorities after a thirty-minute trial.

Shaikh’s execution strikes a blow to two years worth of efforts in which the family of the man as well as British diplomats attempted to have the decision reversed. Members of the Foreign Office had met with officials at the Chinese Embassy in London over the past several weeks to reach a diplomatic agreement regarding the handling of Shaikh by Chinese authorities in the communist state.

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Defiant China claim ‘no one has right’ to comment on its judicial sovereignty

Family say they are ‘deeply saddened, stunned and disappointed’

Akmal Shaikh, 53, was put to death by lethal injection just after 4am at Xishan detention centre in the western Urumqi province.

In a statement shortly after Mr Shaikh’s death, the Prime Minister said he condemned the execution ‘in the strongest terms’. He said he was ‘appalled and disappointed’ that persistent requests for clemency have not been granted.

Read more: Daily Mail

The family of a British man who faces execution in China in less than a week begged today for his life to be spared.

Akmal Shaikh is due to be executed on 29 December after being convicted of heroin smuggling. His family claim a drugs gang exploited his mental illness to trick him into smuggling 4kg of heroin into China.

Efforts to save the life of Shaikh, 53, from north London, have intensified after the Chinese supreme court rejected his plea for clemency and upheld the death sentence yesterday.

From the Guardian UK