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.

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