We Interrupt Your Holiday for a Depressing Death Penalty Story

2009-12-29

Interesting news has been almost nonexistent during this holiday interregnum (unless you live in Iran), but today we saw the end to the tragic, and highly publicized case of Akmal Shaikh, who was executed this afternoon.

Why the interest? Mr. Shaikh was a British national executed by the government of the PRC for drug smuggling. This was not just a petty infraction mind you, but a whopping 4 kilos of heroin that he brought into China. He claimed that neither the drugs nor the suitcase were his, but that he was carrying the bag as a favor to someone else. Yes, he used the old chestnut defense of "I don't know how the four kilos of heroin got into that bag I was carrying." Ouch. That even sounds weak in my paraphrase.

I don't usually write about these sorts of criminal cases. I have no particular insight (I'm a corporate and IP lawyer) and they tend to be quite boring after a while. This case was no different except for the nationality of the defendant.
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