BEIJING -- — Wo Weihan is accused of spying for Taiwan and awaits execution in a prison hospital.
With weeks or even days left before his final appeal could be exhausted, a worldwide campaign to save the 58-year-old father of three stretches from the Chinese capital to Pasadena, where a family in-law whom Wo met only once is trying to generate support in the U.S. to halt his execution.
"Just because this is happening on the other side of the world, it doesn't mean we don't feel connected," said Erica Rolufs, 33, a communications manager for Pasadena Water and Power. "They're family."
The Rolufses' campaign has brought Wo a degree of international attention, including an appeal from the U.S. Embassy, that is rare for death row inmates in China. Whether that attention will save his life remains unknown. Family members initially waged their campaign privately for fear of angering Chinese officials.
China routinely executes far more prisoners than any other nation -- generally in secrecy and with little if any outside scrutiny. The exact number is secret. About 8,000 people were executed in 2006, according to the official New China News Agency. The number of cases has fallen by 15%, a senior legal official said in 2007.
Amnesty International, a human rights group, said China had 470 executions in 2007 based on public reports, or about 38% of the known global totals, but said this is an absolute minimum.
Wo's case might have gone unnoticed but for his Chinese-born daughter, Ran Chen, an Austrian citizen who is married to Michael Rolufs, an American from New Orleans with siblings in Southern California.
The couple were living in Austria when they learned of Wo's arrest in 2005. They have since moved to Beijing to fight for Wo's life, an effort that is reaching its final gasp now that the case is being reviewed by China's Supreme People's Court.
The Austrian Embassy has asked China to reconsider the death sentence and the U.S. Embassy has called for a full legal review at the request of Wo's family, who have spent the last year contacting elected officials for help. There has been next to no contact with Wo in the last three years.
Wo's case highlights the continued concerns over China's justice system at a time when Beijing has made strides to reform its use of capital punishment. Family members say that Wo, a biomedical researcher in Beijing, wasn't able to see a lawyer until 10 months after his arrest and that his conviction was largely based on a confession that may have been coerced and which he has since retracted.
