Bipolar Sufferer Set to Face Chinese Firing Squad

Mental illness and the wheels of justice intersect yet again as the actor Stephen Fry, who suffers from bipolar disorder, is currently beseeching the Chinese government not to execute fellow Briton and fellow bipolar sufferer Akmal Shaikh, who faces death by firing squad after being convicted of drug trafficking in China. Shaikh was arrested at Urumqi Airport, in northwestern China, in 2007. His death sentence was announced last October.

Urumqi Airport is far, far off the tourist track. According to Wikipedia, it's "the 21st busiest airport in China."

According to the Daily Mail, some argue that the 53-year-old Shaikh "may have been duped by heroin traffickers without realising what he was doing, as Shaikh "says he had no knowledge of the heroin and was tricked into carrying it after being lured to fly out by the promise of work as a singer in Shanghai. The former taxi firm boss was arrested after a suitcase he was carrying was allegedly found to contain 4kg of the drug, with a value of £250,000."

Fry and the human rights charity Reprieve are calling for the Chinese government to spare Shaikh's life, and asking British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to intervene on the condemned man's behalf.

More from the Daily Mail: :"Last night Mr Shaikh's family pleaded for mercy. They say he has been seriously unwell for many years. His brother Akbar [said]: 'We are all very worried. ... He will be extremely disorientated and distressed.'

"A preliminary report by Dr Peter Schaapveld, consultant clinical and forensic psychologist, said it was very likely his behaviour had been 'influenced or caused by' mental illness. Mr Fry's intervention comes amid reports that the QI host saved the life of a fellow depression-sufferer who wrote to him when she had no one else to turn to. Crystal Nunn was astonished when Mr Fry replied to her saying: 'Goodness knows, it can be so tough when nothing seems to fit and little seems to be fulfilling. I've found that it's of some help to think of one's moods and feelings about the world as being similar to weather. It might be dark and rainy for two weeks in a row. BUT it will be sunny one day.'"

The actor has been very public about his own struggles with bipolar disorder, speaking about it in his 2006 BBC documentary The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive.