As the year 2009 came to a close, China finally went ahead with an action that had been causing diplomatic tensions with the United Kingdom for many months: the execution of a man of Pakistani origin.

Ahmad Shaikh, a British Pakistani, had been arrested in Ürümqi, in China’s XInjiang province as he soon as he got off a flight in September 2007. A search of his luggage had found 4 kg of heroine.

After a lengthy trial and many appeals for clemency, Shaikh was sentenced to death via lethal injection. The sentence was carried out on December 29, 2009. His family was not allowed to be with him in his final hours.

The story of how Shaikh, 51 at the time of his arrest, had wound up in China is incredulous to say the least.

Although the city of his origin is unknown, it is confirmed from multiple sources that Shaikh migrated to the UK with his parents in childhood. By the 1990s, he was married to a British woman, had children and ran a cab business called, perhaps creatively or perhaps for a lack of a better word, Teksi.

Although the business went well for a while, his life was far from untroubled. His brother, Akbar, would later say that he had always exhibited strange behavior, a matter which would come up later in his trial.

His marriage ended in 2001, which according to Akbar had a significant impact. Three years later, he was ordered by a court to pay over £10,000 to a former employee who had accused him of sexually harassing her.

In 2005, he abruptly left everything and went to Poland. He found another woman here but his life was far from stable.

In another strange occurrence, he wrote dozens of emails to to the British embassy in Poland on a variety of topics and were often copied to major public figures including PM Tony Blair.

It was the emails that later revealed the new ambition that had taken hold of him and would ultimately lead him to trouble: becoming a pop star.

Shaikh apparently met a man named Carlos who convinced him he could make it big in the world of music. However, there was a small caveat – Carlos told Shaikh he would have to fly halfway across the world to Kyrgyzstan.

At this point, Shaikh had already recorded his own song. Titled Come Little Rabbit, the song featured lyrics in English, Polish and even an iteration of the Kalma. The track featured back up vocalists on some cheerful, up beat music.

The songs lyrics went:

Come little rabbit, come and pray

La ilaha illallah

One person who knew Shaikh at the time said that he was ‘desperate’ for human contact and would start explaining his song and his ambitions for it to anyone who would listen.

Carlos paid for Akmal Shaikh’s flight to Kyrgyzstan where he was introduced to Okole, apparently the owner of a large nightclub in China where Shaikh would get his big break.

During this time, Shaikh’s passport was taken away by the men he had entrusted his fate to and later returned. However, he was not fazed as he thought he would soon be so famous that every border would let him pass on the basis of his identity.

He was eventually put on a flight to China by Carlos and Okole. He was given a suitcase to carry but no one accompanied him, supposedly because the flight was full.

On September 12, 2007, he flew into Urumqi where customs found two packets of heroine in the suitcase. The drugs were worth £250,000 at the time.

Reports say that Shaikh was immediately sentenced to death but the UK government was not immediately notified. The case was taken up by the international organisation Reprieve in 2008.

Appeals from his family, international organistaions and the UK government flew in frantically with the PM himself penning a letter to Chinese authorities. The family said he was bipolar and needed an evaluation.

Chinese authorities said that Shaikh could not be examined for mental illness as there were no documents to suggest that there was a history of mental illness in him or his family.

After multiple appeals were rejected, Akmal Shaikh’s death became a certainty with China refusing to bow to pressure from the UK.

Upto 24 hours before Shaikh was executed, he did not even know his death was near at hand. The news was given to him by two of his cousins who were finally allowed to meet him. However, some sources say the visit took place a few days earlier on Boxing Day.

The cousins came out of the hospital where Shaikh was held, carrying his possessions in a plastic bag. In the wee hours of the morning on December 23, 2009, Shaikh was executed.

China issued a statement on his execution, saying the heroin he was carrying was enough to cause 26,800 deaths.

“During the legal process, Mr. Shaikh’s rights and interests were properly respected and guarantee,” the statement said.

Nothing became of Shaikh’s pop star ambitions, but the song he recorded is still available on YouTube. You can listen to it here.