Australian to be executed in Singapore for drug, Downer says

Australian to be executed in Singapore for drug, Downer says

Agencies, Canberra

An Australian man convicted of drugs charges in Singapore has
lost his final appeal for clemency and will be executed,
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Friday.

Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, was sentenced to death in March 2004
after being convicted for smuggling almost 400 grams of heroin
from Vietnam. He was arrested at Singapore's Changi Airport in
December 2002, where he was in transit for Australia.

Downer, Prime Minister John Howard and Governor-General
Michael Jeffery had all pleaded for clemency for Nguyen, who will
become the first Australian to be executed for drugs charges in
Southeast Asia since 1993.

"We are very sad that this has happened. We have done our
best, we have done everything we can to save his life," Downer
told reporters in Adelaide. "The execution is expected to be
carried out fairly quickly, which is the custom in Singapore."

Australia is a staunch opponent of the death penalty but
Singapore, known for its tough stand against crime, mandates the
death penalty for murder and drug trafficking.

Nguyen, a sales executive from the southern city of Melbourne
who emigrated to Australia as a child, told police he was
smuggling the drugs to help pay off a debt owed by his twin
brother.

Nguyen's Melbourne-based lawyer Lex Lasry said the Singapore
decision was devastating for Nguyen, his family and "anyone who
values humane treatment of their fellow human beings".

"Death by hanging is hideous. Further, it is grossly out of
proportion to the crime committed," he said in a statement,
adding that Nguyen had admitted his guilt and cooperated with
authorities.

"We call on the Singapore government to reverse this decision.
We make this call in the name of fairness and justice."

But Downer said there was little more Australia could do.

"This was a decision made by the Singapore Cabinet and the
President, consistent with the laws and constitution of
Singapore," Downer said.

Two other Australians, Mai Cong Thanh, 46, and Nguyen Van
Chinh, 45, remain on death row in Vietnam after being convicted
for drug smuggling.

In 1986, Malaysia executed Australian drug smugglers Kevin
Barlow and Brian Chambers by hanging in a high-profile case that
sparked a major diplomatic row after then Australian Prime
Minister Bob Hawke described the death sentence as "barbaric".

The last Australian to be executed in Southeast Asia was
Michael McAuliffe, who went to the gallows in Malaysia in 1993
for drug trafficking.