Cousins ask China to reprieve Briton facing death

Nasir (R) and Soohail Shaikh, cousins of a British man due to be executed for smuggling drugs into China, speak to journalists as they arrive at Beijing airport December 28, saying they would appeal to China's President Hu Jintao in a last-ditch bid for clemency for the relative they say is mentally ill.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Cousins of a British man due to be executed for smuggling drugs into China made a last-ditch appeal to Chinese authorities for clemency for the relative they say is mentally ill.

Akmal Shaikh, 53, is due to be executed on Tuesday morning in Urumqi, capital of western China's Xinjiang province, after being caught trying to smuggle 4 kg (8.8 lbs) of heroin in a suitcase in 2007. A Chinese court rejected his final appeal on December 21.

"We feel that Akmal's reported history of irrational behavior can only be attributed to a mental imbalance which we would hope merits a re-evaluation of his case," his cousins, Soohail Shaikh and Nasir Shaikh, said at Beijing's airport late on Monday, after visiting to Urumqi to see him.

"We beg the Chinese authorities for mercy and clemency to help reunite the heartbroken family."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week asked China not to execute Shaikh, who was born in Pakistan and moved to Britain as a boy. While not leading to any diplomatic rift, the case could harden public opinion in Britain against China.

Shaikh's family says he suffered from bipolar disorder, and was tricked into becoming a mule by a smuggling gang who promised him a music recording contract.

A version of "Come Little Rabbit," a song Shaikh wrote and recorded in English, Polish and Arabic, was released as part of a campaign to save him by a British organization, Reprieve, which lobbies against the death penalty.

The cousins said Shaikh looked "weak" when they saw him.

Western rights groups say Shaikh would be the first European citizen to be executed in China since 1951, when an Italian and Japanese citizen were executed for counter-revolutionary activities against the new communist government.

"The case has been processed in accordance with the law... The defendant's litigation rights and legitimate treatment have been fully granted," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said last week, adding that drug smuggling was considered a "grave crime" internationally.

(Reporting by K.J. Kwon; Writing by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Alex Richardson)