25-11-2005, 03:10 AM
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Sir AntiLag
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Another update on the issue from The Straits Times. I can't post a link as only subscribed readers can access the articles so a link won't work.
Quote:
Nov 24, 2005
Decision to deny Nguyen clemency not taken lightly
SINGAPORE says the decision not to grant clemency to a convicted Australian drug trafficker was not taken lightly but after considering all relevant factors carefully.
Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, Assoc Prof Ho Peng Kee said that Singapore recognised that many Australians were disappointed with the decision but Singapore also had to protect the interests and welfare of its citizens.
Prof Ho made this point in his meeting with Mr Robert Hulls, Attorney-General of the Australian State of Victoria who had come to Singapore to plead personally on Nguyen Tuong Van's behalf.
Mr Hulls also handed over a letter from the Premier of Victoria, Mr Steve Bracks, addressed to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, asking Singapore to reconsider Nguyen's clemency plea.
Prof Ho said Singapore took a multi-pronged approach to combating the scourge of drug addiction and one component of our approach was the mandatory death penalty for drug traffickers, who were in fact the source of the drugs that ruined the lives of addicts.
As such, Singapore could not change its laws to accommodate those who want a lighter sentence for Nguyen who had committed a very serious offence under Singapore laws.
Prof Ho said the law relating to drug trafficking applied to all persons in Singapore's jurisdiction, both Singapore citizens and foreigners alike.
He said Nguyen was convicted after a fair hearing and his case was carefully considered by the Court of Appeal when he appealed.
He had also appealed for clemency, and had exhausted all avenues of appeal and the law must now take its course.
Prof Ho said that the issue here was the right of a sovereign State to apply its own laws to persons who had committed crimes within its jurisdiction. Later Mr Hulls said: 'This is a modern country, there's no doubt about that. But it seems to me that the punishments that it's meting out, whether the death penalty or caning people, don't belong to a 21st century justice system.'
The Australian state lawmaker also met Nguyen's family members and his mother Kim Nguyen said her son was 'thankful, but not hopeful,' that the clemency appeals from Australia would succeed.
He said she has been visiting her son at Changi Prison every day since Tuesday, and was 'very distraught, very distressed.'
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