Global Ganja Report

The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office released its 12th annual human rights report March 17, just as Foreign Secretary David Miliband returned from an official visit to China. The report singles out China for harsh criticism. Miliband said at the report's launch, "In China, 2009 ended with the execution of a mentally ill British citizen Akmal Shaikh, and the imprisonment of prominent human rights activists, whose cases I raised in China yesterday and the day before."

China ignored personal appeals from Prime Minister Gordon Brown not to execute Shaikh for heroin smuggling. His family says he was mentally ill and had been tricked into smuggling 4 kilograms of heroin by a gang who promised him a music career. Brown said he was "appalled" by the execution—China's first of a European citizen in nearly 60 years. (New Tang Dynasty Television, UKPA, March 18; China Post, Dec. 31)