The Akmal Shaikh Song And Execution

Crazy Is As Crazy Does

I recorded the song 'Come Little Rabbit' by Akmal Shaikh. The description of that process and song are linked here. Since recording that song I've actually had some interesting conversations with people and so would like to clear up a few points.

"What Is Your Position On Heroin Trade?"


I got asked this a lot because Akmal Shaikh was caught trafficking 4kgs of heroin. I don't approve of the heroin trade nor of people who are users. That being said, I don't think executing Akmal Shaikh forms any kind of deterrent to the international trade. All claims to the point that China is doing the right thing by being tough on drugs has to convince a lot of people that doing that right thing is actually of some use. I don't think that case has been made.

To make my point clearer, executing one drug mule is not going to stem the international drug trade, not matter how despicable the said trade might be. Claiming that it would is a bum claim.

"How Do You Know Akmal Shaikh Was Insane?"

Actually, we don't. And we should all hazard a diagnosis without professionals actually talking to the man, which rules out most of humanity. That being said, this is a guy who thought this song would bring about world peace. Think about that.

He also thought that at Age 50+, with his not-so-inviting looks, that his performance of this song was going to send him into stardom in China. That indicates that he actually had no perspective of who he was or what he was doing. The other reported facts about him include his writing of emails expressing that he should have a press conference and this press conference should bring about world peace. The man was reasonably delusional.

If it had been in the western world, they would have assigned a doctor to find out. The Chinese judicial system didn't bother. The fact that it didn't says that it's a system that isn't really interested in finding out the truth; just a system finding out the most expedient solution. It's hard to respect something like that.

"Are Claims Of Insanity Enough To Let A Man Off The Hook?"


There's a case to be made that the increased medicalising of criminal problems means that more and more people are "getting off" on the grounds of their mental un-health. Some see this as a travesty of justice and some see it as a sign that the medical profession is getting too much of a say in the judicial an criminal system.

Law and Order types want to lock up every criminal, regardless of their sanity. I understand that. After all, what good is a criminal justice system if it doesn't punish crimes? We may as well dismantle the whole damn thing and set up a massive  asylum system instead. Heck, it might look like some of our prisons anyway.

That being said, I happen to think that mental health is far more widespread and the mentally ill are exactly the portion of the population who are more vulnerable to being persuaded into doing criminal acts. Or read another way, there is no way a person in the right frame of mind would take on the task of running drugs to China where they have death penalties for such crimes.

I'm not objecting to a guilty verdict. I'm objecting to the severity of the punishment, without a proper examination Akmal Shaikh's mental state.

"Doesn't China Have The Sovereign Right To Do As It Sees Fit?"


Yes it does. One of the things that got my goat in the days leading up to and after the execution was the claim that the world did not have the right to criticise China. I beg to differ. The world reserves the right to crtiticise anybody and everybody for the miscarriage of justice.

While I am against capital punishment in general, I can allow for the fact that China sees fit to carry on with the legal practice. I do believe that due process is required in any legal system and as long as there is any doubt, a government shouldn't readily commit to terminating a life. The crux of the biscuit is that there was significant doubt that Akmal Shaikh was corpus mentis.

Really, you have 2 possibilities given the facts. Either the system sucks, or the people in the system fucked it up.

So if it is the case that China has a crappy judicial process, then I think it's right to say it has a crappy judicial process. This is not a case of interfering in China's internal problems. It's calling a duck a duck.

If it is the case that it isn't that the judicial system sucks, but that the officials miscarried the judicial process, then China should swiftly condemn those culpable and shoot them. But they won't. So you have to conclude that the whole system sucks.

"The Opium War"

In its usual hysteria, China brought up the Opium War in denouncing Gordon Brown's condemnation of the execution.

Imagine if a German drug mule was caught on the border of Israel and immediately sentenced to death amid claims he was crazy. If the Israelis went ahead and executed the crazy drug mule and their foreign affairs department used the Holocaust as justification, wouldn't you think that was drawing a mighty long bow? This is that kind of bow.

The national grievances China might feel toward England might be legitimate in a historic context, but it does not in any way justify miscarriages of justice. The fact that the diplomatic corp of China thinks it does speaks volumes to their myopia more than anything else. I mean let's face it, the Jardine Company selling Opium might have been a legitimate extension of the British Empire, but I strongly doubt Akmal Shaikh was such a state organ. Bringing up the Opium War is just plain stupid.