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Original poster

Akmal shaikh

187 replies

thehappyprince · 28/12/2009 19:30

Just think it's desperately sad he is going to be executed within hours for a crime committed apparently due to psychotic beliefs from bipolar disorder. Wish there was some way for him to get clemency.

OP posts:

SixtyFootDoll · 29/12/2009 08:59

Dreadful news.
Am shocked by some of the comments in papers
ie he was using the mental illness as a ploy to get off.

I had a friend who was Bipolar and when she ha episodes of mania, she too would prob have believed in having a great career in pop.

Feel so sad for his family.

whifflegarden · 29/12/2009 09:10

I believe in capital punishment, but this is appalling and I'm shocked to the core. What's also most upsetting are the comments on the newspaper sites (Times et al). Do we live in a society that has no compassion, empathy? I wonder how people would have reacted if it was a younger, female caucasian? I am just appalled.

Baileysismyfriend · 29/12/2009 09:14

Awful. His poor family.

Another reason to not visit China, they will never get any tourism money from me.

Missy8c · 29/12/2009 09:20

China don't get any money from me anyway. I don't buy Chinese goods at all because of animal cruelty. They are a hard country to boycott. Every bloody thing is made there. This is a country that has no consideration for human or animal rights and yet we (Britain and others) continue to kiss their arse instead of making a stand because there's money in it for us. Economic boycott is the only way to make a difference to China but sadly not enough people care enough to really do it, day in, day out like myself and many animal lovers do.

Georgimama · 29/12/2009 09:22

"I wonder how people would have reacted if it was a younger, female caucasian? I am just appalled."

Yes, I fear that his name and ethnicity are an issue for many when it comes to a lack of empathy "probably a terrorist anyway" just about sums it up.

SixtyFootDoll · 29/12/2009 09:33

Georgiamama
I agree
IF this had been a young white girl, the publicity would have been massive.
I only learnt about this poor mans fate yesterday.
I thought the photos of the meagre amount of protesters with their caardboard placards, at the Chinese Embassy, so sad.

foxinsocks · 29/12/2009 10:45

yes I agree re young white girl grrr

I want to know where David Miliband was while this was happening

tiredemma · 29/12/2009 10:49

This is awful.

Truly awful.

festivefreakout · 29/12/2009 10:56

Am frankly scared of the increasing power of China if this is the way they treat the vulnerable...god that poor poor man

Georgimama · 29/12/2009 11:02

"I want to know where David Miliband was while this was happening"

Amongst other places, Copenhagen on the massive jolly bandwagon that is the ever growing climate change industry. I note China fucked that up too, by refusing to co operate, and everyone said "oh, ok then" because they know there's nothing they can do.

China has a standing army of approximately 3 million, one million fit reserve forces and nearly 500 million men between 18 and 49 who could be called up (thanks for that Wikipedia). Who on earth is going to take them on, over anything?

beyondfurious · 29/12/2009 11:05

it's so awful

China executed 1800 people last year.

i too try very hard to boycott China and i would never go there.

Bessie123 · 29/12/2009 11:06

This is so sad and really disgusting, another example of what a barbaric, backward country china is.

expatinscotland · 29/12/2009 11:24

This man was used by drug traffickers.

Yet we still have thread after thread on here with people getting arsey about their 'harmless' 'recreational' drug use.

These scum will do anything to peddle their crap and they don't care who gets killed in the process.

Georgimama · 29/12/2009 11:29

Yes I agree expat. I think drug use if fucking dispicable, but then I have seen what can happen when a "recreational" drug use gets out of hand.

sticktoyourgins · 29/12/2009 11:32

beyondfurious - I take it you won't be visiting the US either.

I'm saddened and angered by the execution but "the Chinese" didn't kill Akmal shaikh, their government did. Just as we British didn't kill thousands of innocent Iraqis, our government did.

China is a beautiful country and, just like the UK, has many kind-hearted and generous people so don't go denigrating a whole country because of their govt's actions.

I love animals too but would have to boycott just about every country in the world if I were to do so because of the way they treat animals - and I include the UK in that.

atlantis · 29/12/2009 11:50

I see no problem with what China has done here, drug dealers are the scum of the earth, this one had £250.000 worth in his suitcase, a history of criminal activity some against women and deserved what he got, if only all countries imposed such penalties for such crimes.

I'm sure the bleeding hearts would not be so forgiving if the drugs ended up in the arm or up the noses of their children.

I have seen too many people I grew up with lost to drugs to ever have compassion or sympathy for these people no matter if they are using the old 'mental illness' chestnut or not.

Bessie123 · 29/12/2009 11:52

It's not a 'chestnut' Atlantis, it's an illness

atlantis · 29/12/2009 11:56

" It's not a 'chestnut' Atlantis, it's an illness"

Not when it's used so regually as a defence in criminal cases it's not.

noddyholder · 29/12/2009 11:59

God atlantis you are full of fellow feeling

Georgimama · 29/12/2009 12:00

"drug dealers are the scum of the earth, this one had £250.000 worth in his suitcase, a history of criminal activity some against women and deserved what he got, if only all countries imposed such penalties for such crimes."

He was an unwitting drug mule, conned into thinking he was being taken to China to launch a pop career, a lie which he fell for on account of his mental illness. According to reports he had no previous criminal record. What basis do you have for the assertion that he had a record for crimes against women? What crimes?

Georgimama · 29/12/2009 12:03

I missed the "chestnut" shit. God Atlantis, I hope no child of yours ever ends up with mental illness.

Has it never occurred to you that mental illness is used as a defence (or more usually, mitigation) in criminal cases precisely because a lot of people who commit crimes are mentally ill?

MarineIguana · 29/12/2009 12:07

But mental illness is a massive factor in a great many crimes. A large proportion of people in normal prisons in the UK today for example have mental illness problems. That's one reason why prison is so very unhelpful - it doesn't do much to help people recover. (Even 1 in 4 normal (ie non-criminal) people suffer from mental health problems during their lifetime. It shouldn't be so astonishing that it often crops up in court.)

Killing someone for a crime committed when mentally ill is beyond disgusting (I find the death penalty disgusting anyway).

And even if he did deserve it, which I don't accept that anyone does, it's not just about that. The death penalty is also about the inhumanity of the people who do it, and how it lowers and decivilizes them. Plus it doesn't work in the slightest to deter anyone - look at the US.

RIP Akmal.

atlantis · 29/12/2009 12:11

" God atlantis you are full of fellow feeling "

Not for drug runners no and I have no problem with that.

"He was an unwitting drug mule, conned into thinking he was being taken to China to launch a pop career, a lie which he fell for on account of his mental illness. According to reports he had no previous criminal record. What basis do you have for the assertion that he had a record for crimes against women? What crimes?"

" His record of infidelity, sexual harassment and dubious business conduct suggest he was amoral, selfish, and irresponsible.

He was once fined £10,000 for hounding a woman he had recruited as his secretary, while it is telling that his former first wife refused to join the campaign for a reprieve. "

www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1239051/LEO-McKINSTRY-Sorry-join-liberal-wailing-heroin-trafficke rs-deserve-die.html

"I missed the "chestnut" shit. God Atlantis, I hope no child of yours ever ends up with mental illness."

and lets hope a child of yours never ends up with a needle sticking out of their arm while unconcious on the floor suffocating on their own vomit.

"Has it never occurred to you that mental illness is used as a defence (or more usually, mitigation) in criminal cases precisely because a lot of people who commit crimes are mentally ill?"

No, ya think?

Georgimama · 29/12/2009 12:16

Is infidelity a crime then? And I believe the £10,000 payout was an employment tribunal matter? So not a crime either. And not "crimes against women", just the one issue, with the one women.

I have had experience of both mental illness and class A drug addiction in my family, thanks, which might be why I appear to be both more knowledgable, and more compassionate, than you on both subjects. I think I might handle a child's drug addiction better than you would handle their mental illness. Just a hunch.

As for

"Has it never occurred to you that mental illness is used as a defence (or more usually, mitigation) in criminal cases precisely because a lot of people who commit crimes are mentally ill?"

No, ya think?

which is why in civilised countries, mental illness which affects the ability to form the mens rea of a crime either results in an acquittal, or reduced sentence or detention in a mental hospital, rather than a lethal injection.

SixtyFootDoll · 29/12/2009 12:20

Oh yes we can expect the Daily Mail to give a balanced viewpoint on this matter.

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