Singapore takes Nguyen's life

Friking Barbarians

December 02, 2005

Vigil ... Nguyen's twin brother Khoa at Changi prison this morning / Reuters VAN Tuong Nguyen went to the gallows this morning amid silent protests in Australia and a vigil by his twin brother at Singapore's Changi Prison.

The Australian drug trafficker was to be hanged at 6am local time (9am AEDT) after the Singapore Government ruled out any last-minute reprieve.
There was no immediate official notification of the execution, but in Melbourne a church where Nguyen went to school tolled its bell 25 times - once for every year of his life.

In Singapore and in cities across Australia, there were protest vigils to mark the first execution of an Australian since Michael McAuliffe in Malaysia in 1993. In Singapore, 45 minutes before his execution, Nguyen's brother Khoa arrived alone in a taxi in the pre-dawn gloom to be close to where his twin was to die.

In another taxi behind him, close friends of the Melbourne man, Kelly Ng and Bronwyn Lew, arrived with his lawyer Julian McMahon.

Together they walked into the prison's visitor centre, where they were to wait for the execution to be carried out.

"They want to be as close to Van at this time as possible," said Mr McMahon.

Nguyen's mother Kim Nguyen would, at the time of execution, be praying at a Singapore chapel with well-wishers, he said.

Kim Nguyen and Khoa were yesterday allowed limited contact with Nguyen during their last visit, after officials ruled out a final embrace.

Timeline: Key events in the Nguyen case

They were told they would be able only to hold hands with Nguyen, but it today emerged Kim Nguyen was also able to touch her son's face and hair.

"There was a grille and they were able to hold each others hands. Kim was able at least for some time to touch his face," McMahon said outside Changi Prison this morning.

"She told me she was able to talk to him and touch his hair.

"That was a great comfort to her.

"She is obviously incredibly upset, but she is more prepared than she has been at any time previously."

This morning, Nguyen was to be led to the gallows at precisely 6am local time.

His lawyers said the 25-year-old would likely carry rosary beads, and walk without shackles from his cell to stand on the trapdoor of the gallows before his hanging.

It is understood that a hearse will be sent to Changi Prison to collect his body at about 11am local time (2pm AEDT).

McMahon said prison authorities would hold a coronial inquest. A death certificate would be issued and the body would be identified by Australian High Commission staff.

"The body will taken and prepared for burial in Australia," said Mr McMahon.

As the time for execution came and went, there were emotional scenes outside the prison.

A small group of Singapore activists gathered, holding photos of Nguyen and chanting Indian incantations.

Human rights lawyer M. Ravi said: "What do we get out of this? What do we get out of this murder?"

He was accompanied by the distraught family of Shanmugam Murugesu, the Singapore drug trafficker who was hanged last May and who had become a friend of Nguyen.

Shanmugam's mother, Letchumi, wailed: "Who is going to help me?" Earlier, in a cafe nearby, other Singaporean opponents of the death penalty also held a protest vigil.

The newly-formed Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Committee said in a statement they "utterly deplore and condemn" the hanging of Nguyen, as an "inhumane and barbaric punishment disproportionate to his crime".

Members of the group, including artists and professionals, gathered at a 24-hour sidewalk cafe near Changi Prison, lighting a candle atop an outdoor table on which pictures of Nguyen and messages of sympathy were displayed.

Candles were also left at the gates of the prison, where foreign and local journalists camped out next to a television transmission dish.

The vigil was held after Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said there would be no pardon for Nguyen, caught three years ago at Changi Airport carrying nearly 400 grams of heroin while in transit from Cambodia to Australia.

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Crowd gathers for Canberra vigil

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