Singapore sacks its hangman
By CLARE MASTERS in Singapore
November 27, 2005
SINGAPORE has sacked its long-serving hangman on the eve of the
execution of Australian drug courier Van Tuong Nguyen.
.
A new executioner is expected to be flown into Singapore this week
possibly from Malaysia to carry out Nguyen's death sentence as
scheduled on Friday, despite pleas for mercy from Australia.
The 25-year-old from Melbourne will become the first prisoner in
Singapore in 46 years not to be sent to his death by Darshan Singh.
The 74-year-old grandfather was dumped after his identity and
picture was revealed by The Australian newspaper.
Mr Singh said he was in big trouble and was out of a job.
"It has been very, very difficult for me," he told The Sunday
Telegraph. "I am not the hangman any more."
Mr Singh said he would miss the $400 fee for each execution but was
relieved he would not be placing the noose around Nguyen's neck.
"In a way, I am happy," he said.
The hangman's sacking comes as a series of heartbreaking letters
from the condemned drug courier reveal his deep regret for his
crime and an understanding that he must pay with his life.
"I truly believe God put me here for a reason," he wrote from death
row, after Singapore rejected his clemency bid.
"And now that his plans for me have almost been achieved, he is
preparing for me little baby angels to play with when I
return."
He also explains his deep sorrow for those whose lives have been
ruined by drugs.
"I found myself in deep sorrow for the true victims the families
of those who suffer as a result of losing a loved one to drugs," he
wrote. "This has put many things into perspective for me."
He believes his weaknesses have cost him his life and said he
blames only himself: "I accept responsibility for my
actions."
What hurts him, he said, was the pain of losing his mother.
Australia's Catholic bishops yesterday wrote to Singapore's Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong, urging him to reconsider clemency for the
condemned man.
Nguyen was caught with 396.2g of heroin at Singapore's Changi
Airport in December, 2002 while in transit from Cambodia to Sydney.
He claimed he was trying to pay off his heroin-addicted twin
brother's legal debts.
Nguyen's mother Kim and brother Khoa have been in Singapore for a
week visiting Nguyen at Changi each day until yesterday, when the
prison was closed.
Singapore human rights lawyer M. Ravi has led the local campaign to
save the Australian because it was the final wish of his previous
death row client.
Thirty-eight-year-old Shanmugam Murugesu, who became Nguyen's best
friend and confidante in jail, was executed in May for bringing 1kg
of marijuana into the country.
"When I saw Shanmugam on his last day he said to me, 'Let my death
not be in vain please help this young man next to me'," Mr Ravi
said.
It was his last wish that on his birthday, eight days before
Nguyen's execution date, his family hold a vigil to pray for the
condemned. They fulfilled it last week. "We are not just fighting
for my father," Murugesu's 15-year-old son Gopal said.
"We are fighting for everyone."
Gopal and his twin brother Krishnan now work alongside Mr Ravi with
their grandmother Madame Letchumi Ammah as the only family of a
condemned prisoner to speak out publicly against the Government. It
is a battle largely waged in secret as the lobbyists dodge the
Government's strict laws. Of the 10 activists who formed the
Singapore Anti Death Penalty Committee (SADPC), nine will not
divulge their identity.
"But we are slowly making a difference," said one activist.
"Van has made an impact. He has struck a chord. But this will be a
long and slow fight."
