SINGAPORE (AP):
THE UNITED Nations has joined the Australian government and human rights groups in a last-ditch effort to save an Australian man sentenced to death in Singapore for drug trafficking.
Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, will be hanged at dawn on December 2 unless Singapore bends to growing calls to spare his life.
Yesterday, Canberra said it was considering taking Singapore to the International Court of Justice.
"It is important that, despite Singapore's relentless use of the death penalty, we show that we will persist until this cruel and ineffective punishment is abolished," said London-based rights group Amnesty International in a statement Saturday.
Singapore says it considers all aspects when an appeal is put forth, but clemency pleas have seldom worked in the city-state, especially for death-row convicts - only six have been spared from execution since Singapore's independence in 1965.
Amnesty says about 420 people have been hanged in Singapore since 1991, giving the Southeast Asian nation of four million the distinction of having the highest per capita execution rate in the world - ahead of countries like China and Saudi Arabia.
FAMILY VISIT
Nguyen was arrested at Singapore's Changi Airport in 2002 while flying from Cambodia to the southern Australian city of Melbourne with 396 grams (14 ounces) of heroin strapped to his back and in his carry-on luggage. He maintains he did it to help his twin brother pay debts.
Late yesterday, Nguyen's mother Kim and twin brother Khoa arrived in Singapore from Melbourne to visit the condemned man. They did not speak to reporters at the airport and were whisked away by Australian High Commission officials.
Under Singapore law, anyone possessing more than 15 grams (0.53 ounces) of heroin is presumed to be trafficking and faces death if found guilty. Singapore says it must deal harshly with drug offenders to protect its society.
EXCESSIVE PENALTY
Appeal hearings are usually over in minutes, with judges routinely giving their verdict before disappearing into their chambers. Lawyers would then have to refer to their written judgment to take further action.
Letters to relatives informing them of the execution date are extremely simple, and contain just a few paragraphs.
Humans rights advocates call the penalty excessive. "The adoption of such a black-and-white approach is entirely inappropriate where the life of the accused is at stake," said Philip Alston, the special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions for the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.
