A Hong Kong man who has spent 12 years on death row in China faces execution tomorrow. Zhuo Xiaojun, 36, was convicted of murder after a fight in his home town in Changle county, Fujian province, in December, 1989. For more than a decade he has fought to clear his name and insisted he was innocent. He will make one last desperate appeal tomorrow. His sister, Zhuo Hongmei, who witnessed the fight, said: 'This is so unfair. I saw it and I saw my brother was trying to stop the fighting. Some construction workers responsible fled. I told the police but they just don't care.' She claims the death penalty was based on a confession extracted from her brother by torture. 'He was hung up and beaten for 30 hours so that they could have the confessions they wanted to hear. I pray there will be justice for him . . . but honestly I don't know the chances.' The family has not seen Zhuo since he was jailed but has been able to write. Legislator Yeung Yiu-chung, who will be flying to Fujian today to help the family, said yesterday that regardless of the result of the final appeal, the unusually long time the mainland authorities took to deal with the appeal was unacceptable. Zhuo is a Hong Kong resident who lived in the SAR for a number of years. After the murder he fled fearing he could be implicated, Mr Yeung said. But he was caught, charged with 'deliberate killing' and sentenced to death. An appeal was lodged and it took Fuzhou court two years to decide in January 1992 the case merited a retrial on the grounds of insufficient evidence. But this retrial did not take place until eight years later. In January last year the court upheld the death penalty, Mr Yeung said. Zhuo lodged another appeal and the trial was held in November. The verdict is due tomorrow morning. Mr Yeung said the mainland authorities owed Zhuo and his family an explanation for why the process had taken 12 years. 'Imagine being locked up for 12 years - the suffering must be immense,' Mr Yeung said. 'If he's guilty then come out and say he's guilty. There's no reason to lock him up for so long. He as well as his family suffered a lot.' A spokeswoman for the Security Bureau said the SAR Government had been following Zhuo's requests for help, but could not provide details.
