Singapore death row man denied hug with family
By Mia Shanley
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-11-30T094505Z_01_HO035080_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-SINGAPORE-AUSTRALIA-HUG.xml&archived=False
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - An Australian drug courier who is due to be
hanged in Singapore on Friday has not been allowed to embrace his
mother or twin brother and will not donate his organs for
transplant, his lawyer said on Wednesday.
Nguyen Tuong Van, a 25-year-old salesman from Melbourne who was
caught with 400 grams (0.9 lb) of heroin while in transit in
Singapore, has not heard whether he will be able to have physical
contact with his family before he dies, lawyer Lex Lasry
said.
"There is just no basis on which the family shouldn't be consoled
with at least some level of physical contact with a brother and
son," Lasry told reporters as he emerged from an 80-minute visit
with Nguyen in Changi prison.
Prisoners on death row in Singapore are separated from visitors by
a thick pane of glass and have to communicate via telephone,
according to a 2004 Amnesty International report about the death
penalty in Singapore.
Amnesty also said that about four days before the execution date
prisoners are allowed extra visits from relatives, but that no
physical contact is permitted at any time before the
execution.
Singapore's prison service would not immediately comment.
As a special concession in their last four days, prisoners are
allowed to watch TV or listen to the radio and are given meals of
their choice, within the prison's budget, Amnesty said.
Nguyen's mother, Kim Nguyen, arrived at the prison in the
afternoon, holding hands with Nguyen's twin brother, Khoa.
"She is very distressed. But I think she realizes that this is
something she has to come to terms with," said Lasry.
The family has made no public comments in the past few weeks.
Asked whether Nguyen would be donating his organs for medical use,
Lasry said: "I am confident there won't be any donation." Continued
...
On Monday, executioner Darshan Singh told Reuters convicts on death
row can chose whether or not to donate their organs.
Death by hanging does not damage vital organs, unlike execution by
lethal injection, Singh said.
It is not clear who will execute Nguyen after Singh said on Sunday
he had been sacked and would not be required for further executions
after speaking to the Australian media.
Nguyen will be executed by "long-drop hanging", an execution method
inherited from British colonial days.
Long-drop hanging was introduced in the late 19th century as a more
humane form of hanging compared to the short-drop hangings that are
still practiced in some countries. Convicts drop several feet and
die when the spinal cord snaps, not by asphyxiation.
The Amnesty report said that about 420 people had been hanged in
Singapore since 1991, mostly for drug trafficking, giving the
city-state of 4.4 million people the highest execution rate in the
world relative to population.
The Australian government has made repeated appeals for clemency,
with Prime Minister John Howard talking to his Singaporean
counterpart five times.
But Singapore has stood firm, saying Nguyen was caught with a large
amount of heroin and that the government would not allow Singapore
to be used as a transit for illicit drugs.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
