China's Supreme Court said it had approved the death sentence against British national Akmal Shaikh, state media said, in the first official confirmation that his execution would go forward.

Shaikh, a 53-year-old father-of-three who supporters say suffers from bipolar disorder, was sentenced to death last year for drug smuggling. His lawyers have said his execution was due to take place at 10:30 am (0230 GMT).

The Xinhua news agency, citing Supreme Court sources and the ruling approving the execution, said the evidence provided by the British side that Shaikh suffers from mental illness was "insufficient".

Executions are often carried out soon after the Supreme Court issues an order.

First European national

The case of Shaikh has sparked condemnation from rights activists who say his illness should have been a mitigating factor in his sentencing.

But China - its judicial system already under fire in the West over the jailing last week of a top dissident on subversion charges - insists it handled Shaikh's case fairly, and that his rights were protected.

If the death penalty is carried out, Shaikh would become the first national from a European Union country to be executed in China in 50 years, according to the London-based charity Reprieve, which is providing him with legal counsel.

Executions in China are normally carried out by a bullet to the back of the head. Lethal injection has been used as an alternate method in certain areas, according to state media.

At the 11th hour, Britain - which opposes the death penalty - urged China to "do the right thing" by halting the execution.

Clock is ticking

"Even at this late stage I hope they will see that in a modern world it is not appropriate to put a man with mental illness to death," Foreign Office minister Ivan Lewis said on Monday.

"The clock is ticking and a man's life is at stake as we speak," he said.

"We hope that the relationship that we have with China will count for something in the end. And that they, at this very, very last moment, will make the right decision and do the right thing."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has repeatedly raised Shaikh's case with China's leaders and appealed for clemency.

"At every level... the government has raised its concerns, made clear our opposition to the death penalty, and requested a full mental health assessment," a Downing Street spokesman said.

Mentally ill

Shaikh, from London, was arrested in September 2007 in Urumqi, the capital of China's far western Xinjiang region, with four kilograms of heroin. Campaigners say a criminal gang duped him into carrying the drugs.

He was sentenced to death in December last year and lost his final appeal earlier this month in China's Supreme Court, officials say.

Two of Shaikh's cousins visited him in Urumqi on Monday and told him of his fate.

"He was not aware of what is happening and he was hoping for a pardon," Shaikh's cousin Soohail told AFP, adding: "We are still hoping that on some compassionate grounds, we might get a final reprieve or a change of decision."

But Shaikh's daughter Leilla Horsnell, sounded a more pessimistic note, telling BBC Radio: "I'd like to be hopeful, but time just seems to be running out."

Case handled 'in accordance with the law'

Last week, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Shaikh's case has been handled "in accordance with the law" and that his rights were "fully respected and guaranteed".

Reprieve says it has medical evidence that Shaikh suffered from a delusion he was going to China to record a hit single that would usher in world peace.

The charity said new witnesses had emerged and their accounts backed up the defence claim that he was mentally ill.

Two British men, Paul Newberry and Gareth Saunders, both quoted by Reprieve, said they had helped him record a song in Poland and it was clear that he was mentally disturbed.

Newberry said Shaikh was "was clearly suffering from delusions and it seemed to me he was a particularly severe case of manic depressive."

According to the London-based rights group Amnesty International, China executes more people every year than the rest of the world combined, but the actual numbers put to death remain a state secret.

It put the number of executions in China in 2008 at more than 1,700.

LATEST British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said China executed British national Akmal Shaikh on Tuesday, a move he condemned "in the strongest terms."

"I condemn the execution of Akmal Shaikh in the strongest terms, and am appalled and disappointed that our persistent requests for clemency have not been granted," Brown said in a statement.

Brown's statement comes soon after China's state media said its

- AFP