China: Akmal’s death sentence, a resolute No to memory of humiliation? · Global Voices
Bob Chen

Akmal Shaikh, a British citizen convicted of smuggling heroine into China, was executed on Tuesday although his families along with the British government had pleaded for reprieve, claiming that he is mentally ill.
The supreme court of China however dismissed the request of a mental assessment because the documents provided by the British embassy cannot prove that Akmal is mentally disordered.
After the inject of Akmal by lethal injection, the British government and some right organizations reacted fiercely. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned the execution and said he was “”particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken.”
Facing the critique, China expressed strong discontent. The spokesman of foreign ministry said the accusation is groundless and warned that the intervention might damage the bilateral relations between the two countries.
In China, drug trafficking is considered as a felony. Carrying or selling heroine of more than 50 grams will get death penalty according to the Chinese law, and over 4000 grams were found on Akmal.
To many Chinese netizens, the incident reminded them of the 2 Opium Wars fought in 19 century that British troop invaded China because Chinese officials burned up the opium
sold by British. China lost the war and suffered from the “100 years of humiliation” since then.
On 163.com, a major portal website in China, over 3000 people supported a comment left after the news piece, which writes:
老外就了不起了…..贩毒就该杀
Acekingfang, moreover, thought the execution shows China is rising.
同样是没收“鸦片”、惩办英国毒贩，170年的1839年林则徐的“禁烟”引发清王朝的世纪第一战，英国人靠鸦片和大炮打开了中国的大门…. 1856年清政府在“亚罗号”上逮捕了几名海盗，这一本属于中国内政的事件被英军当做发兵的借口而发动了第二次鸦片战争，150年前的1859年第二次鸦片战争中英法联军在天津大沽口战胜清军，进而向北京城发兵，此年火烧圆明园，烧杀抢掠，虏走中国无数的文物、财宝，使得中华民族遭受历史上最沉重的灾难和损失之一。
而今当英国贩毒分子在我们的国土上做出法律所不容的事情，我们可以正大光明的用我们自己法律的手段惩治毒贩，绝不留情，不用看别人的脸色，这也从侧面显示：中国可以不高兴，后果很严重！
zha811's comment demonstrated a similar mentality
比如把大英博物馆的一些中国收藏拿来我们也许会认真考虑的！！
zhun2875 said,
这是我们的内政，关英国人什么事？
In China, it is long complained that foreigners, in particular westerners, are treated as if they are privileged with a higher status. In 2008, a train made an unscheduled stop in order to send several Japanese passengers to the airport and even police cars were used to escort them. However, in another case a mentally ill Chinese citizen was fastened by the train attendants to the seat and left to death with no one tending him. This time, the court's ruling that treats people equally seems to win applause.
Wang Wen, a editor of Global Times, believes:
归根结底，外国人在华犯罪，由谁来判，怎么判，必须严格按中国的法律程序来办。洋人犯法，能否与国人同罪，是一个司法公正的问题。
Some opinions hold that it is in fact a diplomatic failure of the British government because it doesn't really get to know how Chinese people think. It is echoed by the commentary:
我很同情阿克毛和他的亲人们，死刑是一个残酷的刑罚，我个人一直觉得，这是一个非常不人道的做法。但，就司法本身的刚性原则显示，只要中国还没有废除死刑，只要别的死刑犯还在遭受这样的待遇，阿克毛就没有任何可以例外的理由。否则，人为制造的区别，将带来更多的悲剧。
在以往中国因种种罪犯的引渡问题与别国的交涉时，中国总是无一例外的被拒绝。哪怕需要引渡的是恐怖分子，西方也都会用本国法律中的相应条款直接拒绝。最直接的借口是，欧美国家的三权分立和绝对的司法独立，是一道谁也越不过去的门槛。但这次英国举国上下几乎都忘记了司法独立的最高原则，而是寄希望于中国高层对司法的直接干预，试图让阿克毛逃脱一死。
当西方试图群起将一个罪犯的生命与更多的东西挂钩，逼中国高层就范时，阿克毛，其实就已经不得的不死了。原因太简单，13亿中国人都在用天枰称着自己和那个叫阿克毛的鬼佬在国家里的重量。鬼佬的生命是命，我们自己就天生是草？