Re: Some harsh words, what are the merits?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4487366.stm <br /><br /><br />Australian man prepares to hang<br />Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van - archive image<br />Nguyen Tuong Van was found with 400g of heroin<br />The family of an Australian man facing the death penalty in Singapore has visited him for probably the last time.<br /><br />Nguyen Truong Van, 25, is scheduled to be hanged before dawn on Friday, after being found with 400g (14 ounces) of heroin at Singapore's airport in 2002.<br /><br />His mother and twin brother visited him at Changi prison on Thursday.<br /><br />Singapore has ignored calls for clemency for Nguyen, and on Thursday, Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock branded his hanging "barbaric".<br /><br />Mr Ruddock said the case had mitigating circumstances, because Nguyen had said he smuggled the drugs to earn enough money to pay off legal bills of A$30,000 (£13,000). incurred by his twin brother, a one-time heroin addict.<br /><br /> <br />It was a great visit and quite uplifting<br />Lex Lasry, lawyer<br /><br />Australia unease at hanging<br /><br />"It's a most unfortunate, barbaric act that is occurring," Mr Ruddock said.<br /><br />Nguyen's case has prompted intense media coverage in Australia, though a poll released on Thursday suggested people were divided over whether the death penalty was justified.<br /><br />'Uplifting'<br /><br />Nguyen's mother appeared at the jail looking distressed.<br /><br />During her son's captivity, she has been unable to have any physical contact with him, only being allowed to see and speak to him through a glass partition.<br /><br />But the Singapore government said on Thursday it would allow the two to hold hands during their final meeting, following a personal appeal by Australia's Prime Minister John Howard.<br /><br />One of Nguyen's lawyers, Lex Lasry, has said his client was ready to die.<br /><br />"We've just had a beautiful last visit. It was a great visit and quite uplifting," he said on Thursday.<br /><br />Nguyen, who was born in Vietnam but lived in Melbourne, was arrested while in transit at Singapore's Changi airport.<br /><br />Singapore has some of the strictest drug trafficking laws in the world, and anyone found with 15g of heroin faces a mandatory death penalty.<br /><br />According to Amnesty International, about 420 people have been hanged in Singapore since 1991, mostly for drugs offences.<br /><br /><br />you have to be
to take drugs there <br /><br />tommays
