Consular Secretary at the British High Commission in Singapore Colin Lane said if the pleas were dismissed, there was nothing more the British Government could do. So far, Singapore has executed 12 Hong Kong residents.

Ten of those have been executed within the past 15 months: Raymond Ko Mun-cheung, Chiu Sum-hing, Elke Tsang Kai-mong, Wong Wai-hung, Ng Kwok-chun, Hsui Wing-cheung, Fung Yuk-shing, Nathan Tse Po-chung, Cheuk Mei-mei and Angel Mou Pui-peng. The high number of recent executions were due to the speeding up of the judicial process. The country remains resolute that the death penalty will continue to apply to people trafficking more than 15 grams of heroin or 500 grams of cannabis.

MALAYSIA Eight Hong Kong residents have been executed to date and another one is on death row.

THAILAND There are 2,175 foreigners among a total prison population of 102,000, of whom 101 are Hong Kong residents. This makes people from Hong Kong the sixth largest group of foreigners in Thai jails, behind the Burmese, who make up the largest group of foreign inmates (809), Nigerians (207) and Laotians (181). The majority of Hong Kong residents have been convicted for drug offences, and others for offences against the person.

According to a foreign affairs officer in the Department of Corrections in Bangkok, 100 prisoners are currently facing the death penalty. He said they were all Thai nationals, although Hong Kong Government figures reveal there are two Hong Kong residents on death row. But their hopes were raised after the Thai Supreme Court ruled last May that the death sentences for Cheong Wong-wai, 30, and Thomas Li Yan-lung, 24, be commuted to life imprisonment. They pleaded guilty to smuggling 5.5 kilograms of heroin and now join the other residents serving a prison term in the country.

JAPAN Hong Kong residents (31) make up the sixth largest group of foreigners in prisons, behind Malaysians, Iranians, Filipinos, Chinese and Taiwanese. About one per cent of Japan's 45,000 prison inmates are foreigners, and many have been convicted of drug-related crimes. A spokesman from the Corrections Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, said he could not provide statistics about prisoners facing the death penalty because 'it was not open to the public'. The area was a 'field of no comment', he said.

UNITED STATES Asians make up only 1.4 per cent of the total prison population of 95,486, though foreigners make up just over 25 per cent of prisoners. The three largest groups are Mexicans, Colombians and Cubans.

The main offences are drugs (nine per cent); robbery (10.5 per cent); property (5.6 per cent); and firearms, explosives and arson (8.9 per cent). A spokesman from the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington DC, Bill Bechtold, said there were six inmates on death row under federal jurisdiction and they were US citizens. But at state level there were at least 2,800 inmates on death row. Asians made up the lowest number with 20, which included one Hong Kong resident.

SOUTH KOREA There are 11 Hong Kong residents among a total of 186 foreign prisoners. Nine have been convicted on narcotics offences and the other two for homicide. Other foreigners include 42 Americans, 69 Chinese and five Japanese. South Korea's prison population totals 58,000. The Corrections Bureau in South Korea said none of the foreign inmates were on death row.

VIETNAM Vietnam has sentenced to death Wong Chi-shing, now languishing in Ho Chi Minh prison. British Foreign Minister Douglas Hurd appealed for clemency during his visit to Hanoi in September - but there has been no change in Wong's situation. Four more Hong Kong residents remain behind bars in the country.

TAIWAN Nine Hong Kong people are on death row, and the number may rise to 11. Two men, Lam Kwok-kin and Chan Kin-wai, are defending themselves against calls for their execution for drug smuggling. The prosecutor at their trial has said the pair should die for the offence.