AMNESTY International yesterday said it would step up its fight to save three Hong Kong drug smugglers awaiting execution in Singapore.
The three - Poon Yuen-chung, 22, Tong Ching-man, 24, and her former boyfriend, Lam Cheuk-wang, 25, are due to be hanged on Friday.
Although Poon has asked Governor Chris Patten to appeal for clemency, a local legal expert says there is little hope for the three.
The head of the Hong Kong University's law department, Professor Raymond Wacks, said: 'Their prospects are negligible. This is the same sort of situation as with [executed Filipino maid] Flor Contemplacion. A foreign government can appeal, but the final decision is up to Singapore.' Amnesty International vice-chairman Anthony Chiu Sin-wing said the human rights organisation wanted the sentence commuted.
'We are still actively looking at it and trying to stop the hangings,' Mr Chiu said.
'As with any death penalty case, we are using all of our resources to stop it. In the past we have failed, but it does not deter us from trying to stop it this time.' The organisation has launched urgent appeals to the governments of Hong Kong, Singapore and Britain. It had not received formal replies yesterday.
