Pubdate: Sat, 05 Nov 2005
Source: Courier-Mail, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2005 Queensland Newspapers
Contact: http://thecouriermail.com.au/extras/forms/letter.htm
Website: http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/98
Author: Jake Lloyd-Smith
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Death+Penalty (Death Penalty)

MERCILESS CITY-STATE IS THE HANGMAN OF ASIA

Singapore's People Back Capital Punishment, Writes Jake Lloyd-Smith

WHEN the Changi Prison executioner loops a noose around the neck of
Australian Nguyen Tuong Van, Singapore will be living up to its
reputation as the hangman of Asia.

The tightly controlled city-state - governed uninterrupted by the
People's Action Party since 1959 - is ranked by human rights group
Amnesty International as having the world's highest per-capita
execution rate. Between 1991 and 2000, 340 people were hanged in
Singapore, according to official figures.

Some years are busier than others. For example, 50 people were hanged
in 1996, meaning the gallows were used almost once a week.

Death sentences in Singapore are mostly imposed for drug trafficking,
such as in Nguyen's case.

But it is also handed down for murder, kidnapping and some firearms
offences.

Tradition dictates that hangings are always set for the early hours of
a Friday. Although criticised abroad, Singapore's tough capital
punishment policy is broadly supported at home, where opinion polls
periodically show hanging is backed by about seven out of 10
Singaporeans.

But there are a handful of people who disagree.

"Drug addiction cannot be solved by hanging a few people, and these
are normally the small-timers . . . not the masterminds," human rights
activist Sinapan Samydorai said.

Mr Sinapan, a spokesman for the group Think Centre, is one of a few
dozen people set to protest against Nguyen's impending death at a rare
vigil planned for Monday.

Melbourne salesman Nguyen, 25, was arrested at Changi Airport in 2002
as he was about to board a flight to Australia.

He was carrying 396g of heroin; enough, Singapore authorities say, for
26,000 doses.

The final avenue for appeal appears to have been exhausted.

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has received a letter from
his Singapore counterpart, George Yeo, rejecting any last-minute bid
for clemency.

The city-state had a responsibility to prevent Singapore from becoming
a conduit for the trafficking of illicit drugs, the letter said. It
added that the final decision to take Nguyen's life was debated by
Cabinet and had not been taken lightly.

Singapore argues the noose has helped keep it safe from serious crime,
especially drug trafficking.

"The Singapore Government makes no apology for its tough law and order
system," the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a written defence last
year of capital punishment.

"The death penalty is a just punishment for those who knowingly and
intentionally commit serious crimes, which threaten the lives of others.

"The death penalty, because of its finality, is more feared than
imprisonment as a punishment."

Most of those hanged are Singaporean citizens, and the majority are
condemned for drug-related crimes.

But official figures also show that the system is more likely to be
used against the jobless or low-skilled.

A 2004 document said Singapore executed 138 people in the five years
to 2003. Of those 37, or one-quarter, were foreigners. This figure
tallies almost exactly with the proportion of non-Singapore nationals
who are resident in the city-state.

Of the same group of 138, 110 were executed for drug-related
offences.

During the 10 years to 2003, 51 per cent of those hanged were
unemployed or working as unskilled workers, labourers or cleaners.

Sixty-four per cent of those hanged were either educated only to
primary school level or had no schooling.

Opponents of the death penalty fire back that executions do not make
Singapore safer and violate what they regard as a sacrosanct right to
life.

On it website this week, Think Centre asked: "If this inhumane
practice is really a deterrent, how come we after 40 years of
executions still have the highest per-capita execution rate in the
world with the greatest known proportion of these executions
small-time drug mules?"

As Nguyen is a foreigner, the authorities will inform his next of kin
and the Australian High Commission of the chosen date between seven
and 14 days in advance, compared with the four days' notice usually
allowed for locals.

He will then be allowed visits from relatives of up to four hours
during his final few days. His execution will be witnessed by a doctor
and his body will be handed back to his family. 
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