China Executes British Subject

China confirmed that it executed British subject Akmal Shaikh by lethal injection on Tuesday, drawing sharp criticism from Prime Minister Gordon Brown over Shaikh's mental health status. According to Shaikh's family, the 53-year-old had been living on the street in Poland before being enticed to China by men who used his dream of recording a song for world peace; he was arrested in China in 2007 after getting off a plane from Tajikistan carrying a suitcase with almost nine pounds of heroin. He denied the suitcase was his and said he didn't know about the drugs, but Chinese courts convicted him in 2008 after a half-hour trial. "There is no reason to cast doubt on Akmal Shaikh's mental status," said the Chinese Supreme Court.