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Singapore
executed an Australian drug trafficker just before dawn on Friday
despite repeated pleas by Australia's government for clemency,
sending a chill over relations between the long-time allies.
Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, was hanged at the city-state's Changi prison
just after 6.00 am local time. A minute after the execution, a
large church bell in Nguyen's home city of Melbourne tolled 25
times - once for every year of his life.
The hanging follows weeks of campaigning by his lawyers, his family
and civil rights groups to stop the execution.
Thousands of people gathered in Australia to pray and mourn for
Nguyen in the final 24 hours of his life while Singapore activists
moved in pairs overnight to light candles at the prison. Public
gatherings of more than four people require a police permit in the
tightly-controlled city-state.
"I hope the strongest message that comes out of this...is a message
to the young of Australia - don't have anything to do with drugs,
don't use them, don't touch them, don't carry them, don't traffic
in them," Australian Prime Minister John Howard told Australian
radio.
Australia, a staunch opponent of capital punishment, ditched
diplomacy this week and called the hanging a "barbaric" act.
About 70 people, including Australian politicians, gathered outside
the Singapore High Commission in Canberra on Friday with a banner
reading "Oh Singapore, how could you?" while protesters clutching
flowers rallied in Sydney and Melbourne.
In a tiny concession to Australia, Singapore's prison authority
allowed Nguyen to hold hands with his mother before his execution
but rejected pleas to let them have a final hug.
"She said to me she was talking to him and able to touch his hair
and face. It was a great comfort to her," Nguyen's lawyer Julian
McMahon told reporters outside the prison, which was crowded with
reporters and onlookers.
Nguyen's twin brother Khoa and a family lawyer arrived at the
prison at dawn. They could not witness the execution but said they
wanted to be as close as possible to Nguyen when he died.
His mother, Kim Nguyen, was in a Singapore chapel with friends,
praying for her son.
Strained ties
Analysts said short-term relations between the countries would be
strained because of the execution, but said Singapore would not
likely budge on its mandatory death sentence for crimes such as
murder, firearms offences and drug trafficking.
"Singapore is a small, affluent society next door to one of the
world's biggest suppliers of drugs, the golden triangle. I think
Singapore would have been a very different place if it was not
tough on it," said political analyst Seah Chiang Nee.
But activists said that while the campaign to abolish the death
penalty would be an uphill battle, they would continue to fight
against the "gruesome, state-sanctioned murder".
Singapore is one of Australia's strongest allies in Asia and Howard
has rejected calls for trade and military boycotts.
Singapore activists, along with the family of a man who was
executed in May, arrived before the hanging holding a picture of
Nguyen with a yellow and white garland to condemn the
execution.
"What do we get out of this? What do we get out of this murder?" M.
Ravi, a human rights lawyer said outside the prison.
A private funeral service will be held in Singapore on Friday
afternoon. The family is due to return to Australia on Saturday
evening. Nguyen's body will be flown to Australia for burial.
Australia last hanged someone in 1967. The death penalty was
abolished by states during the late 1960s, early 1970s.
