Australian man prepares to hang

Nguyen Tuong Van was found with 400g of heroin
The family of an Australian man facing the death penalty in Singapore has visited him for probably the last time.
Nguyen Truong Van, 25, is scheduled to be hanged before dawn on Friday, after being found with 400g (14 ounces) of heroin at Singapore's airport in 2002.

His mother and twin brother visited him at Changi prison on Thursday.

Singapore has ignored calls for clemency for Nguyen, and on Thursday, Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock branded his hanging "barbaric".

Mr Ruddock said the case had mitigating circumstances, because Nguyen had said he smuggled the drugs to earn enough money to pay off legal bills of A$30,000 (£13,000). incurred by his twin brother, a one-time heroin addict.


"It's a most unfortunate, barbaric act that is occurring," Mr Ruddock said.

Nguyen's case has prompted intense media coverage in Australia, though a poll released on Thursday suggested people were divided over whether the death penalty was justified.


Nguyen's mother appeared at the jail looking distressed.

During her son's captivity, she has been unable to have any physical contact with him, only being allowed to see and speak to him through a glass partition.

But the Singapore government said on Thursday it would allow the two to hold hands during their final meeting, following a personal appeal by Australia's Prime Minister John Howard.

One of Nguyen's lawyers, Lex Lasry, has said his client was ready to die.

"We've just had a beautiful last visit. It was a great visit and quite uplifting," he said on Thursday.

Nguyen, who was born in Vietnam but lived in Melbourne, was arrested while in transit at Singapore's Changi airport.


Singapore has some of the strictest drug trafficking laws in the world, and anyone found with 15g of heroin faces a mandatory death penalty.


According to Amnesty International, about 420 people have been hanged in Singapore since 1991, mostly for drugs offences.


Source: www.bbcnews.com


I love my country, but this is utter madness- After all that bull about being a developed country, with one of the highest standards of living in the world, we still hang people? How many developed countries in the world actually hang people nowadays?

And the poor guy isn't even allowed to at least hug his mother- just hold her hand. He's not going to run away from jail in her arms, is he?!

Googled on human rights and hanging, and this is what I found:

The Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Article 3, affirms the right to life and Article 5 asserts "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

Clearly, a contravention.