Nov. 18
ASIA:
End to death penalty 'unrealistic'
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said it is unrealistic to think that
Asian nations will ever abandon the death penalty.
Australian drug trafficker 25-year-old Van Tuong Nguyen will be hanged in
Singapore on December 2.
He was caught with almost 400 grams of heroin strapped to his body and in
his hand luggage at Changi airport in 2002, and significant lobbying by
the Australian Government has failed to convince Singapore authorities to
spare his life.
Mr Downer today defended the Government's efforts and rejected suggestions
it should be lobbying harder to stop the use of the death penalty.
"They're absolutely determined not just to deal with issues like murder
but also drugs, and the fight against drugs is a very, very important
priority for countries in South East Asia, I can understand that," he told
ABC radio.
"We're not in favour of the death penalty in this country, we've obviously
raised it from time to time, it's well know in the region we don't support
it.
"I think it's heroic to think that we could just turn off the death
penalty in South East Asia, I just don't think that's being terribly
realistic." Nguyen claims he was trafficking heroin to help pay off legal
fees incurred by his twin brother Khoa.
He will be the 1st Australian executed in Singapore, and the 1st
Australian sentenced to death by an Asian country on drug charges since
Queenslander Michael McAuliffe was hanged in Malaysia in 1993.
(source: AAP)
