Acupuncture and herbal remedies – that’s what Chinese medicine means to most of us. But now the Beijing government has come up with a new form of medication. It’s a cure for bipolar disorder, it’s permanent and it takes just seconds to administer.It’s a bullet in the back of the head.

That’s the treatment that’s been prescribed for British subject Akmal Shaikh, 53, a father of five from Kentish Town, north London. He is guilty of smuggling drugs, the Chinese authorities say, and the penalty is death.

Psychologists and other mental health professionals, however, say Shaikh shows signs of bipolar disorder – or manic depression, as it used to be known. Even from a layman’s perspective, Shaikh clearly suffers from delusions of grandeur and really shouldn’t be allowed out alone.

But the Chinese authorities are going to execute him, despite signing up to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights ‘not to impose the death penalty on a person suffering from any form of mental disorder’. Despite its own criminal code stating that mentally ill people should be given medical treatment and ‘a less or a mitigated sentence’.

And despite its increasing engagement with the West as an emerging economic superpower – not to mention as a lucrative target market for British law firms looking to share in China’s success.

How did Shaikh get himself into such a mess? He moved to Poland to start his own airline, with neither the money nor any knowledge of aviation to do so. He kept himself busy writing dozens of rambling emails (in 72-point font!) to the British embassy in Warsaw instead.

He next decided to become a pop star in China, as one does, but broke his journey with a stopover in Kyrgyzstan. There he surrendered his money and passport, but not to worry: he was about to become a superstar and could afford to replace them. And, of course, he was more than happy to carry his new friends’ bag on the flight to China.

The inevitable happened. When he landed in China, he was stopped and searched by the police. The bag contained four kilograms of heroin and his new friends were nowhere to be found. Shaikh stood trial for drug smuggling, was found guilty and was sentenced to death – a bullet in the back of the head being the favoured method of execution in China.

Robert Heslett, president of the Law Society, has written to Hu Jintao, the president of the People’s Republic of China, urging him to impose a commuted sentence on Shaikh ‘in light of his serious mental illness’.

The Law Society was also the venue for a press conference hosted by legal action charity Reprieve. The charity’s director, Clive Stafford Smith addressed the conference, as did psychologist Dr Peter Schaapveld and Shaikh’s brother, Akbar Shaikh. All three appealed for clemency.

China has just sentenced six of its own people to death following the summer riots in Xinjiang and has ignored all international protests so far. Shaikh’s family and supporters can only wait and hope.