SINGAPORE, Nov 21 (Reuters) - - Singapore will stick to hanging
as its method of execution, the government said on Monday, less
than two weeks before the planned hanging of an Australian drug
smuggler. "We had previously studied the different methods of
execution and found no reason to change from the current method
used, i.e., by hanging," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home
Affairs Wong Kan Seng said in reply to a question in
parliament.
His comments came as lawyers for Nguyen Tuong Van -- who is due to
be hanged on Dec. 2 following his conviction for drug smuggling --
asked the Australian government to take the case to an
international court in a last-ditch bid to stop the
execution.
Laws enacted in 1975 prescribe death by hanging for anyone aged 18
or over who is convicted of carrying more than 15 grammes (0.5
ounce) of heroin, 30 grammes (1.1 ounces) of cocaine, 500 grammes
(17.6 ounces) of cannabis or 250 grammes (8.8 ounces) of
methamphetamines.
Nguyen, 25, was arrested at Singapore's Changi airport in December
2002 while trying to smuggle 400 grams (0.9 lb) of heroin while in
transit for Australia.
Australia has asked Singapore to reconsider clemency for Nguyen --
who said he was carrying the drugs to help his brother pay off
debts to loan sharks -- because he had cooperated with authorities
and could be a witness in future drug cases.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who met privately with
Nguyen's mother last week, has dismissed calls for trade sanctions
to be imposed on Singapore over what he described as "a desperately
sad case".
"But the Singaporean government should not imagine that this
incident, this issue is going unnoticed in Australia," Howard told
Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Monday.
"There is great feeling and great conviction in our country that,
on this occasion, the death penalty should not be imposed."
Amnesty International said in a 2004 report that about 420 people
had been hanged in Singapore since 1991, mostly for drug
trafficking, giving the city-state of 4.2 million people the
highest execution rate in the world relative to population.
Nguyen's lawyers want the United Nations International Court of
Justice to hear the case.
"The foreign minister, I think, takes the view that if there is a
way to do it and it's a viable legal action then the Australian
government would be interested in doing it," Nguyen's lawyer Lex
Lasry told Australian television on Monday.
"But they won't just do it for the sake of it, they will do it if
they think there's a good basis and I agree with that."
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has said the plan was unlikely to
be successful.
"There is something called the second optional protocol to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which bans the
death penalty, but of course it is an optional protocol," Downer
told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Monday.
"A number of countries like Australia have signed it, Singapore
hasn't," he said.
(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols)
