Family of executed man'outraged'

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Akbar Shaikh, whose 53-year-old brother Akmal Shaikh was executed, said they could "no longer remain silent" in the face of claims made about the case by the Chinese authorities.

Shaikh, who was convicted of heroin smuggling in China, was executed by lethal injection, in spite of pleas for clemency from human rights campaigners and the UK Government.

His cousins, Soohail and Nasir, have arrived back in the UK after their last-ditch pleas for clemency failed.

They also saw Shaikh, who was believed to be seriously mentally ill with bipolar disorder, for an hour and a half in prison.

Campaigners said in spite of his obvious problems an assessment of his mental health was not carried out for the Chinese courts.

His family singled out for criticism a statement from the Chinese Embassy in London in which it was asserted that Shaikh had his rights and interests "respected and guaranteed".

They also attacked a further claim by the Chinese Embassy that he had no previous record of mental illness.

Speaking on behalf of the family, Mr Shaikh said in a statement that his brother had received no mental health assessment after he was arrested in spite of evidence of his vulnerability.

He said: "We firmly believe Akmal should not have been killed by the Chinese - he was a vulnerable and mentally unstable man, yet he received no mental health assessment by the Chinese authorities at any stage during the proceedings against him."