In re: Akmal Shaikh
Declaration of Gareth Saunders
I am a British national. I have lived in Poland for about 5 years although I am
currently in the UK visiting my family on holiday.
In Poland I teach English, and am also a musician.
I received a text message from a friend (Paul Newberry) who informed me
that someone we both once knew in Poland (Akmal Shaikh) was facing
execution in China. I would have made a statement earlier but was unaware
that someone I once knew was in this extreme situation.
I met Akmal in Warsaw about two-and-a-half years ago on a protest organised
by Polish nurses. He was a very open and positive person despite the fact he
was living in poor conditions in a kind of Polish community centre, seemingly
homeless.
We met every day throughout the duration of the protest which lasted about
three weeks. As I am a musician, he wanted me to help with the recording of
his future "international hit" (called ‘Come Little Rabbit’). He organised a
studio for free and wanted to practice the song with me and Paul Newberry
who played the bass on the song. I was responsible for some of the backing
vocals.
It was clear that Akmal had absolutely no musical talent, no sense of timing
and the song itself was dreadful. Throughout the recording he was jumping
around in his best imitation of a rock star. We made it clear to him that this
was a hopeless song, but he was still adamant that we were being negative
and Come Little Rabbit was what the world had been waiting for.
He seemed to think it would bring about world peace, or something bizarre
like that. Even though this was a crazy idea, Paul and I helped him, as he
always meant so well, and he clearly thought this song was going to have a
very positive impact on the world.
I occasionally met Akmal two weeks subsequent to the nurse's protest (I think
in August 2007) once to go go-karting with him and some Irish people who
were in Warsaw celebrating a wedding until the early hours of the morning.
This was a very sad experience in a way. The Irish were being very cruel to
Akmal, making jokes and unkind remarks about him. But he took it all in good
spirits, and never complained about it.
The final time I saw him was in the subway system in the centre of Warsaw
when he mentioned he was going abroad for a couple of weeks. This must
have been when he flew to China.
Because I was concerned about him, I tried to contact him after by mobile but
it appeared he'd disappeared off the radar screen, but I was not successful. I
assumed he'd returned to the UK as he'd had problems living in Poland. But
now it appears he was on death row in China when I thought he was back in
the UK.
I am not an expert in mental illness, and at the time I was unaware of the
diagnosis of bipolar disorder. However, it was very clear that totally
delusional. He perpetually thought things were going to work out in ways that
had nothing to do with the reality around him. He would think that his grand
plans would come about, though it was clear to the rest of us that they would
not.
It would be totally unlike him to get mixed up in drugs. However, it would be
totally typical of him to fall for some kind of story that some drug dealer might
spin to him concerning making his record in China. Indeed, I remember one
time when I met Akmal in a bookshop for a coffee. It was in the centre of
Warsaw. Various drug dealers would hang out there, but Akmal would be
oblivious to that. He would be so desperate for human contact that if some
shady character came up to him to talk, Akmal would have gone on and on
about his song, and it would have been easy for someone to see that he could
be exploited. Anyone could recognize that. I am no expert, and I certainly
did.
I very much hope that the Chinese authorities show clemency to Akmal, as he
was a very gentle person, and would not have consciously got involved in the
crime for which he apparently stands convicted.
The foregoing is a true and accurate account of what I know about Akmal
Shaikh and does not exhaust the sum of my knowledge.
December 28, 2009
[Authorized by the declarant]
Gareth Saunders