**A British man, said by his family to be mentally ill, could be executed in China in the next 24 hours.**Last week, Chinese authorities set Akmal Shaikh’s execution date for 29 December, despite pleas for mercy from his relatives and the UK government.
Mr Shaikh, 53, from north London, was arrested for drug smuggling in 2007.
His daughter told the BBC he was not aware he could be shot within hours, but this was a “good thing” because his mental state was so fragile.
Two of Mr Shaik’s cousins, Soohail and Nasir Shaikh, have travelled to the Chinese region of Xinjiang where he is being held, and hope to meet him on Monday morning.
The two men also plan to lodge papers seeking a legal review of his case and to deliver personal pleas for clemency to China’s President Hu Jintao.
“Time just seems to be running out”
**Leilla Horsnell
Daughter of Akmal Shaikh **
‘Couldn’t speak properly’
According to legal charity Reprieve, Chinese authorities have said knowledge of his execution is being withheld from the Briton on “humanitarian grounds”.
He will only be told 24 hours before it is due to happen, something his daughter Leilla Horsnell agreed with.
“I think it’s a good thing because I don’t even think he would understand because we don’t know how much his mental state has deteriorated,” she told BBC Radio 5 live.
"We do know in one of the appeals he insisted on giving his own statements and he couldn’t even speak properly, and what he was saying wasn’t making much sense.
“And so I don’t think him being told would mean anything or would… if anything, it might make it worse if he was aware of what was happening.”
Ms Horsnell said she hoped the authorities would listen to the family’s final pleas, but admitted she was not optimistic “because they haven’t looked at the evidence previously”.
“I’d like to be hopeful, but time just seems to be running out,” she added.
CHINA DEATH PENALTY
- China executed 1,718 people in 2008, according to Amnesty International
- Last year 72% of the world’s total executions took place in China, the charity estimates
- It applies to 60 offences, including non-violent crimes such as tax fraud and embezzlement
- Those sentenced to death are usually shot, but some provinces are introducing lethal injections
The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville in Beijing said the situation was getting “very desperate” for the Briton because the Chinese authorities did not have a reputation for leniency.
Mr Shaikh has denied all knowledge of the 4kg of heroin found in his possession in the city of Urumqi in 2007.
His family say he has bipolar disorder and was duped by a criminal gang into unwittingly carrying drugs for them.
If the death sentence is carried out, it would be the first time an EU national has been executed in China for 50 years.